New game thread. The old one is really long and it breaks apart when you scroll through it. I appreciate that y'all enjoy it so I'm gonna try to get back to doing it regularly.

Mega Man X. Been meaning to play at least one of these. It was really enjoyable, but in order to play it really well/fast I would have had to hold the controller in a weird way and my tendonitis wasn't down for that. I just think SNES games are the best bro.

What do you want to know?.

Final thought. Consider this if you are to pick a more “standard” character. I would rather play Marth than Lucina. Don’t listen to the generic word vomit people say about this game. If you want to win the full bracket and win many full brackets, try to reach a high ceiling.

This idea worked out really well, but obviously over time there were bigger fish to try than beating low lag and spotdodge canceling lmao.

My original reasoning for playing Diddy Kong was that I thought items were incredibly strong in Ultimate. You can beat spotdodge canceling and low lag without even being there. Free information all the time from your win condition.

Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean I think playing a sword character is more difficult than some others. In fact I’d probably lean towards thinking they’re too easy. But the ceiling is too low. Consistently barely avoiding interaction is weaker than completely avoiding it.

Other characters can dominate without having to even consider playing the game. While also being able to play with this older style at the same time.

Sword characters don’t have to “play the game.” But they are watching from just outside the window, barely teetering from playing the game. As Smash progresses, what makes a character strong also progresses.

For the sword character thing, here’s my attempt at explaining. A disjoint being relevant throughout a character’s moveset used to be a potential X factor in the design. Now it’s either a standard or the character has something completely game changing. Or both.

Your opponent is already heavily influenced by the existence of those tools. The amount of information you get just from that alone is enough to potentially win games consistently. Especially if you’re collecting information from your opponent’s response to being within range.

To clarify a couple things, if you play a character with a dash attack/dash grab/burst option that you consider to be your strongest tools or very important to your game plan, it’s all the more reason to consider what I’m saying.

Sorry if I'm rambling or not making much sense. My Smash opinions can be pretty intense. This is just my current vague obsession. Sword characters being outdated and low ceiling was my previous one.

The existence of your win condition is more important than using it. Do you really have to swing your disjoint at mid range to establish something between your opponent? You will probably be scrambling and playing on the back foot for the entire time without even realizing it.

A lot of people think they HAVE to show their opponent something in order for certain conditions to start developing. You don’t. It’s already happening. And if your opponent isn’t aware of certain things? You probably had nothing to worry about anyway.

This is a bit general but I do dislike most decision making processes. Rash decisions that lack information or positional awareness. The other side of the coin is decisions not really having to be made at all sometimes because Ultimate is pretty fucking terrible lol.

With that being said there are always exceptions. A key dash grab can sometimes really swing the game into your favor. But I still think you can consistently win without putting the game on the line like that.

I think if dash grab and dash attack are a key part of your game plan then you are behind in Ultimate. For them to be consistently successful I think they require heavy layering/momentum. They are essentially an invitation for your opponent to have deeper decision making than you.

Spyro the Dragon. Played this one after Wario Land 4. I now understand why people grew up loving this kind of thing. Adjacent yet not the same as growing up with Nintendo and stuff. Wasn't the best game ever, but it opened up the door to a bunch of stuff I may potentially play.

Unfortunately didn’t get this on stream