Learn about some of the building block techniques in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Whether it be for movement or for reducing the chance of losing your stock, this article will teach you some fundamental skills to help get your competitive Melee career started.
Super Smash Bros. Melee is one of the longest-tenured titles in the fighting game community, with tournaments happening since the game's release in 2002. While there have been no balance updates to the NTSC version of the game, which is the primary version that is played, that does not mean that the meta has remained stagnant in these 20 years of competition. New techniques and mechanics are constantly being discovered by members of the Melee community with the hopes of optimizing gameplay and proving how much Melee there is left to be played. With every new technique and mechanic that is discovered, the options that players have increase exponentially.
One of the most basic of these techniques is called lag canceling, or L-canceling. A player L-cancels when they are about to land with an aerial attack by pressing one of the two bumper buttons that are used to shield. Doing this reduces landing lag on the aerial immensely and makes the player actionable four frames later. This allows for safer pressure, better combo opportunities, and less opportunity to be punished for a bad aerial.
Every character in the game is capable of L-canceling. There is a tight window for performing L-cancels, but they are easy to practice. Either by going into the training room or playing against a low-level computer, you can pick whatever character you want to practice with and repeatedly throw out aerials while working out the timing for each move.
Wavelanding is the basis of a lot of movement within Melee. This technique is executed by performing an air-dodge into the ground at an angle, causing the character to slide across the ground. The more horizontal the angle is, the farther the waveland will go. Messing up this tech will result in a normal air-dodge, which can be dangerous if your opponent is in a position to act upon the mistake.
Wavedashing is performing a waveland from a standing or dashing position. To execute a wavedash, you have to first short hop, which can be done by lightly pressing one of the jump buttons or lightly tapping the control stick upwards, and then performing a waveland immediately after. You can also change the angle of your wavedash horizontally to mix up the distance you cover. This is used a lot in neutral to optimize your spacing in situations and cover ground efficiently.
Dash Dancing is the basis of a lot of characters' neutral games. To perform a dash dance, you have to dash back and forth without getting the turnaround animation. If done correctly, you will be actionable out of each dash the entire time. Getting the turnaround animation will leave you open to getting punished and surrender the advantage that having a proper dash dance can give you.
You can vary the speed and distance of your dash dancing in order to keep your movement unpredictable and cover different options and approaches. Marth, Fox, Falco, Falcon, and Sheik are high-tier characters that rely on having good dash dancing to varying degrees.
Crouch Canceling is when you hold down on your control stick when you are getting attacked to reduce the attack's hitlag and knockback, which helps you become actionable much quicker out of a hit. This is most effective at low percentages, as it relies on moves that do not put you into a tumble. A tumble state is when a move knocks your character to the floor, with only five total options to get back to a normal standing position. The percentages when crouch canceling is effective are different for every move and every character, so knowing your character's knockdown percentages on both sides of every match-up is very important when utilizing crouch canceling.
Directional influence, better known in the Smash community as DI, is when you hold your control stick in a direction after getting hit to change your character's trajectory. This is done to get out of certain combos, survive longer from moves that would normally take your stock, and force your opponent to have to react to your DI to possibly make them drop their combo. Every move will have different trajectories that you will have to adjust for in order to survive the longest, so it is important to discover the different directions to hold for different moves and situations.
A subcategory of DI is Smash DI, which you do by inputting a direction while being hit to escape multi-hits, get out of confirms, and put yourself in teching positions. A tech is when you input your shield button 20 frames before hitting a surface, which breaks your fall and stops you from bouncing off the surface you hit. Smash DI can turn an 80% damage opportunity into a 20% damage opportunity in the right situation.
On the surface, it may seem that there are only three ways to grab your opponent: a standing grab, a shield grab, and a dash grab. There are two other ways to perform a grab that can prove to be valuable depending on the character you play.
The more universally useful grabbing technique is jump cancel grabbing, or a JC grab. This is when you are dashing and, instead of performing a dash grab, you input a jump right before the grab. This gives you a standing grab animation instead of the dash grab animation. In a lot of cases, this is beneficial as a standing grab is faster and has less ending lag, making it harder to punish and allowing a grab to occur in situations where it would not be typically possible.
The other kind of grab is a bit more niche but can be really useful with certain characters. This grab is a boost grab, which is performed by making a dash attack and then, in the first three frames of the dash attack, inputting a grab. Every character can do this, but the character that has the most clear-cut advantage by this technique is Sheik, who almost triples the range of her grab with this technique. Other characters like Fox, Falco, and Marth also receive a grab range increase from boost grabbing.
Becoming efficient at performing these techniques will give you a solid foundation to start getting further into your character-specific techniques and gaining control of the game. Going into the training mode within the game is a great way to practice all of these techniques, as you can control what the computer opponent does and not have to worry about respawning or being interrupted while doing your practice. Come up with a practice routine that you do every time you boot up the game to help keep consistency in your play. The more you learn about your character, the more complex you can make your routine. Good luck in your future gaming endeavors.
