We focused on polishing our two characters that we will use for the tournament.
AfricanManBeast:
Peach & Zelda
Now you're probably wondering why I chose these characters, ESPECIALLY Peach right? Well that's the catch!
Peach
How would you counter Peach if you don't meet that many Peach players when playing competitively. Peach is honestly a great and fun character to use despite it's flaws. It has great aerial mobility, great aerial priority, and has decent killing capacity.
Peach also has the ability to auto-cancel her floats, which can throw off opponents and make your movements unpredictable
One specific noteworthy feature of Peach that really solidifies herself as a worthy character to play is:
The turnip is so useful for zoning. If you're opponent tries the hit-and-run strategy (like Realfail did soooo... many... times) then a turnip can be used to add pressure. I like to use the turnip as a precautionary tool when approaching an opponent: A turnip and an incoming nair (neutral air), how are they gonna defend that?
The turnip also has high priority so it stops opponents flat cold in what they're performing. What I also like to do is throw a turnip in the air when I feel as if I'm in a dangerous spot. When I'm in the process of being comboed, the turnip has saved me on so many different occasions.
Flaws about Peach have to mainly revolve around her mass and weight. Peach is such a floaty character so she gets knocked out to the blast zone easily. She's also very large making it easy to hit and combo with her.
Favorite Moves: Nair, Fair, D- sMaSh
Zelda
Zelda is my true main. Not Sheik, I never use Sheik, but Zelda.
She has such great kill power! I find her character to be punishing to those who aren't careful and approach her without caution. Her neutral air can be used as defense as well as pressure, since it lasts for such a long time and has a large hitbox (as the rest of Zelda's moves). Althouh she's slow, she makes up for it by having such large range and powerful attacks.
Din's fire is a great way to pressure opponents. It's used to keep distance from an opponent who likes to move a lot (eg. fox), also forcing the opponent to approach you.
Zelda has arguably one of the best recoveries in the game as well. It goes long distances in any direction so it's a great tool to throw off your opponent. Farore's Wind also has a hitbox as well so it can be used to damage as well as get away from a opponent pressuring you.
Some downsides to her has to be again, large size as well as poor mobility; Zelda is a really slow character.
Favorite Moves: Fair/Bair
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Realfail:
Goku & Lloyd
Lloyd
I don't know if it's his play-style or the character, but I absolutely dread going against his Lloyd. Lloyd is such a good character to use (although I never warmed up to him, probably the salt). I honestly didn't realize how good Lloyd was until I did some research about him.
From what I've watched, Lloyd has a really good grab range, it was able to through me off so many times. Lloyd also has combo potential, pertaining to his down special, where it hits any player that's on the ground; this can be used to start off a deadly combo.
Lloyd has great ground speed and a fast attack speed. Lloyd also has the ability to cancel his recovery into an aerial attack (which is so dang annoying), although his aerial game overall I believe to be on the weaker side.
Combined with reliable killing moves, long range, as well as a projectile, Lloyd is a serious threat when facing competitively, although making him easy to learn how to play
Favorite Moves: Neutral special, Side special, D-sMaSh
(More like Annoying Moves [It's the salt; I'm a noob]
(Note from Realfail - My favorite moves are Down special, Side special, and Side Throw)
Goku
Goku is less commonly used in competitive gameplay, and I'm not really sure why.
I really don't have much personally to say about Goku, but I do have some information about him.
As stated on the Smash Flash wiki site, Goku has a good aerial game, good recovery, and kill moves. Also to mention his GREAT combo ability because of:
Or so they say. Goku's Kaioken ability increases his speed, power, and the hitstun of his attacks. The thing about Kaioken is that if Goku keeps attackng his opponents, Kaioken activates longer, which can ultimately lead him to 0-death combo any character.
One downside of Kaioken is that Goku sustains damage while in it. And from what I've experienced, Goku in his Kaioken is pretty easy to dodge as long as you can read and interpret his next moves. I think that this is the reason why players don't rely on Goku.
Furthermore, Goku seems really hard to utilise; he's very unique, therefore, it's a steep learning curve in terms of mastering Goku. That's why I give props to Realfail for being able to play him so well.
Favorite Moves: KAMEHAMEHAAAAA
(Note from Realfail - My favorite moves are the Recovery, Side Special, and D-air)
Critiques
There's a lot of room for improvement to reach tournament standards. One noteworthy thing about me is that it takes me a while to adapt to someone's play-style. Basically, I'm the guy that makes those 3-stock comebacks.
What I feel is necessary for me to improve is to improve my cerebral skills. My technical skill is pretty good, not the best, but definitely decent. It's the cerebral skill/ability that's been holding me back. I need to improve in the art of mind-games: being able to read my opponents, predicting their next moves and punishing them for their predictable movements.
I also need to improve my ability to bait my opponent, luring my opponent in; this is done by learning the play-style of your opponent (and trust me, baiting really works in such a fast-paced game like Smash Flash)
I feel as that once I improve in that aspect of competitive Smash as a whole, then I can truly become a formidable player, in fact, you can too!
"A skilled Roy can beat any Fox" - Something I keep in my head when practicing Melee.
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Realfail has good cerebral game-play. I've always hastily approached him and therefore get punished because.
What he does need to improve are his pressuring skills. He's never the one to approach, and that can sometimes hurt because it can give your opponent to set up (charge stacking) and bait.
Realfail has HORRIBLE technical skill. No tech, he can't combo, he can read but he only does so little to punish predictability. It's something he really needs to improve on in order to get better.
So you could say we're polar opposites. I excel in the technical aspect and he excels in the cerebral skills aspect.
Realfail himself believes that he needs improvement in "Follow-ups, Teching, and Edgeguarding."
For fun, we've decided to upload some game-play of our training session for you guys. This is basically torture, watching two noobs playing Smash Flash. We're so bad I cringed so much I looked like the Grinch (I'm still in the Christmas spirit!). Here you go! Thanks for reading.
Today is also the tournament. Wish us best of luck! Although I doubt we'll place. Have you seen our game-play? (It's above!)
Noobs will be noobs am I right?
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