3 Tips to Make You a Better Melee Player

[@Radarssbm]

I forgot to mention this in the video, but this video is my first video with background music! I wrote and recorded a rearranged version of the melee theme, kind of in a lo-fi study-beats style. Let me know if you guys liked it! I'm hoping for it to become the main theme for Micro Melee + Macro Melee. And thanks for all the positive feedback so far!

[@thesaucypickle9866]

Is the song available anywhere currently?

[@Radarssbm]

TheSaucyPickle I wrote and recorded it on ableton. The source is me lol. If people are interested in downloading it I could release a version!

[@Metroyeti17]

@@Radarssbm Def interested

[@Radarssbm]

Metroyeti17 I’ll look into it! I want to upload it in a way where people can’t just use it without credit lol

[@koth_harvest_final]

@@Radarssbm look into creative commons licensing for it, for instance CC BY-NC 2.0 means other people can use it but not for commercial projects and have to credit you; or CC BY-SA means they can make money off of it but need to credit you

[@SSBMTutorials]

This is the best video i've ever seen. As you said, most people don't do this at all, but part of that is because as you get better at the game, you also get better at learning the game. So if anyone struggles with this, don't worry. Just start somewhere; with consistency you will be way better than you ever thought you could. Edit - One more thing, prepare your answers ahead of time. Since you're making a hundred calculations a second while in-game, it's really hard to think on the fly. Take a second to think or talk about what you could do instead between matches or stocks... even better is to think about a situation before you start your friendly session, and then you can adapt even faster!

[@Radarssbm]

Thanks so much! I definitely worked really hard on the video to try to sum up learning melee in the most efficient way possible (imo). Also I totally agree with your advice!

[@samuelbeall3787]

Both my favorite melee guide channels in the same comment section!?! Awesome 👍😎

[@MrMooooole]

I watched this documentary on gambling that had a nice little sound-bite. This guy was a professional gambler and had been banned from most of the betting apps because he chose bets too well and cashed out at the best times. He reckons most people make "mug's bets" but that his bets are "smart bets", but the scene in the doc I really remember was when the film-maker won a bet and the pro lost a bet and he said "yeah, but sometimes a mug's bet will win and a smart bet will lose". In terms of melee I think option coverage in situations like tech-chases and edgeguards is similar, a muggy option might work some of the time, it could even be a tournament winning mixup, but it's still a muggy option - short-term gains a' plenty but lacking the consistency for long term gains. That said, defining the set of muggy options is difficult and probably varies between people and their DI, SDI, tech-skill etc., but I still thought it was interesting (as I somehow manage to compare every game and sport with melee in some way or another).

[@TwinGrimm]

You'd be surprised how much UFC and Runescape are the same

[@hansonhan1824]

I’m a new Falco player and saw your sick Falco Kill Setup Vid. The techniques came in handy many times. Thank you for your commitment to help others get better.

[@Radarssbm]

Hanson Han thank you for watching! I’m always down to help out new players !

[@ze_chooch]

Tip 4: listen to this background music.

[@Indigamesforlife]

Rollback comes out...

[@joshuaquinn7858]

@@Indigamesforlife M'Overlay is out

[@xray1192]

I missed this series so much, I've been taking a break from melee so videos like these are very helpful to help me get back into it with a clearer idea on things, great video man

[@Radarssbm]

Ray Bluntzer I missed making videos probably just as much haha. Having to take a forced break from a project I really loved sucked. But I’m super glad to be doing it again!

[@aftermarketmartin2126]

Love this series! Welcome back

[@NickyCrispy]

I didn't know you had an accident, that sucks! Wishing you a smooth recovery, and a happy new year :)

[@normalrachael]

Finally a melee video that actually discusses high level concepts correctly

[@cm7771]

Welcome back! I found myself wondering what had happened with this channel, sad to learn it was a concussion but excited that you're improving. This video was super informative and well-paced. Music was a perfect touch, too.

[@turndownforwalt]

Happy to have you back!

[@EthansQuest]

I LOVE that clip of Ice dancing on armada's shield. I was thinking about it an hour ago and here it is. 8:08

[@felixdoyon6546]

E F classic clip although I just realized that the hit box on fox’s up smash was so unfair in this clip haha I can’t believe it didn’t send armada backwards or something

[@jacobhargrove6452]

The comparison to jazz improvisation is literally perfect and is such an underrated comparison

[@mckibb_n2868]

Seeing you post this must mean you’re making steady progress in recovering from your injury. GJ.

[@Radarssbm]

Yeah I'm still working on some issues, still getting pretty frequent headaches, but I'm hoping to start slowly making videos again at a more regular pace. Right now it might be a little while until the next one (maybe a month?) but I'm hoping to get back to doing weekly videos.

[@snickerdoodle3908]

Some of my favorite KZbinrs (CGP Grey, Mark Rober) only upload once a month. If that's all you can manage right now, or if it's what works for you, go for it. Your videos are so good, I for one will always watch no matter how frequently you upload :)

[@Doormin]

This is fantastic, it's funny because a lot of these things are obvious when you think about them, like it is the logical endpoint of getting better, but you don't really think about it as a whole until someone tells you like this

[@deanerdaweiner3829]

This video is outstanding. Honestly, 99% of the tips in video can be applied to the other smash games the title does not do thus video justice. Great to see you back man

[@algar6616]

you are a god-send. this type of content creates a sturdy foundation upon which the community can stand the test of time. thank you for making content simple enough for the uninitiated and also succinct enough for veterans to reflect over

[@Radarssbm]

Al Gar thank you for the kind words! Please tell your friends and spread the word haha, I really want to make KZbin my full time job and I love making videos like this!!

[@caustiCanine]

Nice to see you back making videos! I'm glad you've recovered relatively well, keep trucking on man :)

[@drakoz254]

Welcome Back to one of the best analytical melee content creators there is! Keep creating and teaching, Michael. You're doing great :)

[@NicholasSunderland]

Glad to have you back and hope that your recovery is smooth sailing

[@drewmetra]

This video was amazing! thank you for doing this so much, i feel like it makes a lot of concepts ive hard of/ seen elsewhere really click and come together

[@702Belmont]

It's a very informative video and I know this is for melee but all of this can be interpreted into smash ultimate as well. Love your videos man and the sickest song I've heard for melee in a while. Great Job!!!

[@bensnap1834]

This is great advice for ANY fighting game, not just melee. Awesome video (and good job with the background music)!

[@Emperorerror]

So glad to see you back! EDIT: sorry to hear about your concussion, best of luck with your continued recovery

[@lucaszecchin576]

Thank you for this, I wish you to get better, recover well.. shoutouts from Brazil !

[@tysk_dt]

Realllly happy to see you back! I Wish you a good recovery dude.

[@Radarssbm]

tysk again haha, fine is relative. I’m still definitely not recovered. I’m still having a lot of difficulties, getting really bad headaches, just want people to know that, because I definitely won’t be able to make videos regularly quite yet! But yeah I’m happy to have finally made another video

[@glummy909]

Watched this on Jan 1st, won Big House on Jan 2nd.

[@GuitarGeek25]

I've been playing melee for years, but just started watching your OOT tutorial Playlist the past couple weeks, what a happy surprise to see you back!! Hope your recovery goes smoothly :)

[@actuallybrady]

I just found your videos recently, about 2 weeks ago, and I'm really happy you're back! I love the music you used in the background although I think it's a bit too loud, maybe it's just me but I have to keep rewinding it because I get distracted by the music lol, but great video! keep it up!

[@nervous102]

Insanely underrated video. You're a king.

[@NotaSkeleton]

Welcome back! Great to see you putting up videos like these again, they're really good.

[@elfamosocaribou5709]

This was like REALLY helpful for my mindset and my method to learn melee. Just THANKS

[@LebronTCG]

Hope you are getting better fast as well my friend.

[@InamorastraStardustLucille]

holy fuck this is the first I'm hearing about the concussion, that's awful but it whips ass that you made it out the other end okay, glad to hear you're doing well and making things you like! keep at it dude, this is a great video.

[@gungy_vt]

As an absolute scrub in Smash (I've played a bit of Melee and moved on to Ultimate because I want to keep my hands), these are definitely things I find myself needing to work on. I'd say on top of them though, there could be 2 more super-basic tips: - Become comfortable enough with movement and your own character that you can look at your opponent more than yourself. In Melee, starting off, with how fast and precise the game can be I always found myself unable to pay attention to my opponent without SDing in the process until I became more comfortable with movement and the different stages. Over time, I started to be able to control my character well enough to at least look at my opponent for more than a few seconds without SDing or ending up somewhere I didn't want to be. - BREATHE. Smash is a fast paced game with a lot going on, remember to breathe. It probably seems stupid, but I've caught myself just holding my breath at times in the game just because of putting all my focus into the game. I've actually had friends of mine (also casuls) agree that they end up completely forgetting to breathe until it's between stocks. While this might seem trivial, you can't remain calm or make your best decisions if you're holding your breath in a match that's probably also raising your heart rate. Your brain gets less oxygen during that time and your stress will rise. This kinda goes hand-in-hand with seeing pros meditate between matches or even take a moment to collect themselves between stocks; a good, healthy mindset goes a long way.

[@feelsgold]

Welcome back man, missed your content :D

[@joshford256]

I have to say, as an Ultimate player I love your macro melee series. Please do more!

[@Radarssbm]

A lot of the stuff I cover in Macro Melee is often directly applicable to other Smash games! While I don't give examples for other games, I do still think they're worth watching for other players. Glad to hear you're finding them helpful! Tell your friends who play ultimate hahaaha

[@MeshTheSnake]

Dope to see you back man!

[@RedXLink]

Great video! I learned a lot mindset wise from this and on how to improve. Thank you!

[@Pslamist]

I understand that everything I should do should be intentional, but as a Roy main, I will continue to dash dance and down tilt into everything. Thank you. (That being said, I'm now going to search your awesome channel for anything Roy related. Thanks!)

[@Radarssbm]

Pslamist SSB most of the videos should be useful to you as a Roy player. Only ones that are “not” useful are the Falco kill setups video, and the rest setup videos. Even those are useful to watch since you know what to look out for. I try to make my videos as universally useful as I can.

[@Pslamist]

@@Radarssbm - You do a great job of that! I am trying to focus on how I can look past the limitations my character has, so... I guess I'm working on growing imagination. Thanks for the good content.

[@Radarssbm]

@@Pslamist Honestly, looking passed the limitations of the character is the wrong way to go about it. The best thing to do with low-tiers imo is to try and push their strengths as far as you can, and focus on improving your fundamentals. The reason I think this, is because you can't "look passed" weaknesses. A character's weaknesses matter; they're objective weaknesses. Roy isn't suddenly going to get better at dealing with opponent's crouch cancelling. He's severely limited by this and has way less options as a result. That's an unfortunate reality of his moveset. Similarly, his recovery isn't going to magically improve. I think you should instead try to accept these weaknesses, and recognize how those weaknesses affect him as a character (for example, going for more grabs rather than aerials due to CC). If you want to succeed with a low-tier (knowing that you can only get so far with a low tier, and it's generally easier to improve with top tiers), try and figure out what your character is great at, and abuse that as much as possible. Roy's got a great dash dance, and a strong down tilt like you mentioned. He's also got a chain grab on spacies. If you're a roy player and you're not super consistent with the chain grab, that's one of the first things you should be focusing on. It's a reliable way to get like 50% on an opponent. You should be looking to learn how Roy sets up kills (probably with down-tilt or grab tbh but I don't actually know) and learning those. Lean into your characters strengths as much as possible. I'm sure there's plenty of optimization to be had with Roy, but realistically unless you're at a really high level, your focus should be more on improving fundamentals and abusing roy's strengths. All of this is just my opinion, but I thought I'd at least share my reasoning. Thanks for supporting the channel!

[@monkeytoes9389]

fantastic video

[@LebronTCG]

Great video my friend and it doesnt even works for meleex works for every fighting game or moba. Thank you so much. It will help me a lot on my melee grind.

[@coolguy69verycool]

Pretty sneaky, I thought you were still recovering but I'm ecstatic that you made a new video

[@Radarssbm]

I am still recovering haha, I made this video over a much longer period of time than I normally would, allowing for "brain breaks" and won't be able to make another video for a while either. I'm not even back at work full-time yet. Despite all that, I'm certainly way better than I was immediately after the accident, or even a year ago, or even 6 months ago. So yeah, I was eager to get new content out because I really care about this channel and want to get back into it!

[@Ammadkh24]

Very well made. Great video examples

[@Dyleniz]

Nice your back

[@TheCrustiCroc]

What is Falco doing to cover the side-B at 1:39-1:40? Ledge cancel something?

[@Radarssbm]

TheCrustiCroc it looks really weird but it’s a down-angled f-tilt lol. I agree the clip isn’t the best haha

[@TheCrustiCroc]

@@Radarssbm But does a down-angled f-tilt lag recover this fast? Is this still some kinda cancel? I know nothing....

[@Radarssbm]

@@TheCrustiCroc Here's what I think happened. I f-tilted so close to the edge that i maintained some momentum and fell off during the f-tilt. So i basically f-tilted then immediately fell off the edge. So it's a kind of ledge cancel yeah

[@richettoi8599]

@@Radarssbm it looks like your f-tilt clashed with the last few active frames of the side-b

[@dakotastephens656]

As far as learning matches, what do you think of starting from the ground with a simple option that covers a bunch of stuff, and working up from there? For example, I asked a better player for help as fox in fox vs falcon. They said that Nair is generally a better option than drill is vs jumpy falcons since it can beat falcon Nair in a bunch of the time. I took this advice and now spam Nair at falcons until they show me that they know some counterplay and go from there.

[@Radarssbm]

Yeah it's hard to say exactly what's the most efficient but testing a characters different moves and seeing where/when they work and where/when they don't is useful. As you get better, people will start crouch cancelling fox's nair at lower percents, so keep that in mind. When tyhat happens, fox's dair/drill is a really great tool for dealing with CC and you'll find it's very useful. I think if you're just starting out, try focusing on becoming really familiar with your characters moveset in general, and learning their bread and butter stuff. I've been playing Falco for years and there's still stuff I've noticed that works really well in certain situations and it's that kind of stuff that keeps me interested in Melee. I've also found it helpful to try to look at a matchup and see what the opponent's character is bad at dealing with in general, and vs your character specifically. For example, Marth is really good when he's able to keep you outside his range, but if you can get on top of him he's not super great (no more tippers, his shield is small and vulnerable to shield pokes, and his OoS options aren't super great). Another example would be Sheik is really vulnerable to crouch cancel and can't get openings easily unless she gets a grab at low percents. Then I try to build a game plan around taking advantage of those weaknesses as much as possible (find ways to get marth in shield, use lasers to control his movement) or (abuse cc so that Sheik has to commit to options more heavily, play very defensively to take full advantage of this). Fox in particular has a really versatile moveset that you can do so much with so yeah just try using things in certain scenarios and see how they do. I think the idea of spamming stuff in friendlies is smart in general!

[@ChemSSBM]

When I was trying to get better I used to make a ton of notepads for characters I struggled with and would literally write every solution I knew and would ask people when I didn’t know what to do about one.

[@Rael0505]

This is great! Thanks for this!

[@tin0809]

Thanks

[@LazyLee]

bg music catchy af

[@battelman97]

This is druggedfox-esque, good shit

[@AngeloBassVComposer]

This video seems incredible for melee, but does it work for newer smash games? I need to beat my brother who plays a VERY annoying Luigi in super smash bros ultimate.

[@Radarssbm]

Yup it basically applies to any game realistically, but especially smash games

[@AngeloBassVComposer]

@@Radarssbm that makes this video even better. Thanks for the quick response!

[@Kuryoku]

Nice video! I actually have a script written about a similar topic :D I remember seeing you in twitch chat recently as well :P

[@themax2848]

Amazing video man

[@Txrje]

If your content teaches me Melee as well as it did OoT, catch me top 100 in a few years lmao Ty for the great content

[@timwinterhalter5233]

do you play?

[@cfalcon8342]

Awesome video

[@RainKnee]

I’m going to sum this up, TURN YOUR BRAIN ON

[@leolollp]

wb, Pog!

[@comettitun8087]

yooooo im so glad ure back

[@djoy769]

The background music was sweet, where'd you get it?

[@Radarssbm]

DJoy I mention this in the comment I pinned, I wrote and recorded it myself in ableton. I’ll probably release a version for people if they’re interested

[@djoy769]

@@Radarssbm definitely interested if you release it :)

[@ThePharphis]

great video!

[@woefulkingoddy5941]

5:04 is this why there are so many different playstyles in melee? Because there are many ways a player can choose to deal with a situation? Melee is truly infinite

[@Radarssbm]

Eric Benitez generally, yes. The only tricky thing is that as melee gets more optimized, play styles start to fade a bit, as people lean towards the most optimal options. Melee is way too complex for something play style to disappear entirely, but for example...if everyone learns the Fox v Fox chain grab on FD and never drops it, why bother doing any other combo in that matchup on that stage. That’s kinda an oversimplification, there’s lots of situations where the chain grab isn’t perfect, but what I think you get what I’m saying. As melee has evolved, particularly in terms of defensive counter play, some styles have fallen out of favour, and some combos aren’t really viable anymore as they’re just too easy to get out of. We are still a long way from optimal melee though!

[@GarbageSSBM]

I saw the thumbnail on mobile and interpreted it as: "Improve with any character: Macro"

[@RoastyisToasty]

There isn't any Perfect Melee...yet. *Eyes start to water*

[@randyryry6656]

Yes Finally 😃

[@schmoopDJ]

this is helpful thank you

[@GoodieM8]

this is such a good video

[@keyholder333]

whats the background music called pls

[@Radarssbm]

tydan stannard the pinned comment answers this question

[@Radarssbm]

Basically it’s an original recording I made. I’m gonna try to get it on Spotify since so many people seemed interested

[@zubat0532]

thank you so much

[@ChemSSBM]

Good video

[@Ed-lg5qq]

Bro drop the track!

[@SlushTV]

we stan a healthy recovery

[@thebigawesome9101]

What is this music because its my vibe ♫

[@horsedev]

where did you get your PHD in smash?

[@Radarssbm]

Dick Benis I’d like to say I have a Bachelors degree at best. Druggedfox is the one with a PHD 😂

[@Pilpup]

loving this a lot but I can hardly hear your voice over the music :(

[@marcosharm3344]

Subscribed :)

[@marcosharm3344]

I realize how much I miss Armada in the pro scene

[@KTSpeedruns]

Creativity in melee is mostly a myth. About 1% of games have something creative, and the player probably labbed it in case the opportunity to try it came along.

[@Radarssbm]

Reiden Lightman that is definitely not true. Melee is still a very creative game. Players come up with really creative punishes all the time. Watch someone like PGHCaroll if you wanna see some whacky stuff, but you see it in tourney matches too. The difference is that they’re not totally random punishes without any intention behind them. That doesn’t make them any less creative, nor does it mean they necessarily labbed it out in practice. The reason I make the jazz comparison is because like Jazz, you still have to know a lot to be creative. You have to know what’s going to sound nice and what’s not going to sound nice. Jazz musicians know key signature, chord progressions, etc, then use knowledge of different scales to pull it all together (I.e. blues scales, relative minor scales, etc) Melee is the same. It’s a very big overstatement to say “creativity in melee is mostly a myth.” But I also get where you’re coming from. Most punishes aren’t necessarily creative. A lot of stuff is labbed out. I’d still argue that you see multiple creative ideas from each player in a single game though

[@Micha-Hil]

"Improve with ANY character!" even roy...?

[@Radarssbm]

Yes, even Roy

[@matarel]

I fukin hate learning

[@noodletribunal9793]

this is very daunting (ヽ´ω`)

[@bylka8144]

am i the only dude who still use a classic wii controller ?

[@michaelcontreras2007]

big pp

[@lakessbm]

Act with purpose

[@justforshow1993]

Melee is hard.

[@GustoFormula]

:)

[@tulip1634]

Not really specific to melee. This could be almost every single competitive game.

[@tulip1634]

And, like, duhh?? Everyone should know this?? I guess it's informative.. meh. Just want to reiterate this literally doesn't teach melee tech it's just a mindset