BananaBoy's probably one of if not the only Smash UA-camr(s) who focuses on how to improve as a player at the most fundamental level. Having videos on tech and characters and in-game know-how is certainly necessary, but I'm glad someone out there is sharing knowledge on literally the whole philosophy and mentality behind Smash
Also regarding your last sentiment, it's actually not about keeping track of all behavior in a match. The best players don't do that. Instead the best players develop shortcuts through time spent in game. For example, anyone who's good at a match-up will know what tools the opponent has in neutral. The opponent COULD throw out some random bad option, but statistically when playing to the character's known strengths they're likely going to lead in with one of two options. Obviously this is because not all tools are worth using in all scenarios -- all scenarios have specific tools that are advantageous to use. Knowing this, the top player doesn't have to keep their eye on what the opponent is doing nearly as much as keeping in mind what this character generally does, and maybe a couple of mix-up options. Then it's down to player psychology. Understanding general player habits and getting in their head results in reads far more than keeping track of every variable throughout a given match. Spend time with characters. Understand how people play. Understand WHY they play the way that they play. Understand when they do what they do. Then TRY to guess right when the time and opportunity is right. This is general adaptation. Responding to a dynamic threat on the basis of identifying likely options, observed over a large window of time. In other words, because there's always an "optimal way to play", you'll be able to spot patterns in options chosen per scenario. Just with statistical analysis alone you're going to get a feel for what can come next based on what is advantageous for that particular character. This is the first half of the equation: understanding the character. Once you understand the character, you understand what CAN possibly happen in any given scenario. And over long enough periods of analysis you'll begin to gather a significant understanding of what will PROBABLY happen next just by observing over-all character tech and human nature. But the second half is understanding the player specifically. People have different methods of doing this and this comment has already gone on FAR too long so I won't get into this too heavy. Besides, most of the time, for the average player, this won't even matter. I will say this though: through understanding what type of person you're playing and what habits they have, you narrow the possibilities in any given moment further. By understanding the character, you narrow possibilities down from say 10 to say 3. And through understanding your opponent you narrow that down from 3 to 1. It doesn't always work. But that's the human element here.
This is great I agree with all of this. This is the kind of stuff that makes a player better than casuals. If you know this stuff and the other player doesn't then they're pretty much gonna lose
In case anyone is wondering how effective adapting is for a low-level player: I just tried it recently, just by noticing what the opponent did after reaching the ledge, and I almost instantly felt more confident and turned a close game into an easy sweep.
My main is Robin, but I picked up Inkling as my secondary after doing squad strike with random characters until I said "You know what? This character is both good and fits my play style!" (Also I love Splatoon. That also helps)
This is definitely a video I'm keeping in the records. I have a friend that I beat very seldom and it is frustrating. I do the training process: run through training mode, understand my character's frame's and options to the best of my ability and then take it to lvl 9s then take it online then take it to him. He adapts so well it makes it difficult for me to adapt but this definitely helps give me an idea of how I should start thinking in battle.
Hey BananaBoy! I just wanted to let you know your videos like this make me really happy. Learning to adapt, to me, seems like the stage in which mediocre players plateu and drop smash. Your videos are fun to watch and never seem to give off any negative vibes despite this one holding the truth of hard work at the end. You're advice feels to come so softly and nicely that it encourages me to keep getting better. This video is most likely a saviour for some. Just wanted to let you know that you are a great member of the smash community. Thank you for being so cool and for helping others
Hey man thanks for these videos because it delves deep into the mentality of smash. My friends and people I play that are casual come to me asking, "how can I get better" and it's hard for me to explain that there is more to it than just running up to a character and hitting them with whatever move you feel so I've been recommending them to you cause the videos like these hit it right on the nail and they even help me to improve too. So thanks and keep making quality content! 👌👌
comett itun Oh yea totally, but personally I didn’t rly think I was good enough/ have enough confidence to go to one. Videos like these made me a better player while simultaneously making me more confident.
That’s great dude, just a word of advice that may or may not be obvious to you, but you will lose. A lot. Do not let it make you stop going, learn and analyse. Friendlies aren’t even adequate practice for tournaments, only tournaments are adequate practice for tournaments. Good luck man. I believe in you.
I agree, ever since his how to approach video, that alone made me so much better. Then there was how to land, mentality in Smash, and what to do at your first tournament videos that helped out a lot too. Honestly almost all his videos have been the most helpful and fun tip videos to watch
I played competitive Pokemon right before playing competitive smash. And it helps a lot as Pokemon is a game of prediction and timed attacks. So thinking about your opponent's move in smash becomes simpler than before.
Great and relevant video as always. As far as the "cool piece of advice that solves all your smash problems", you actually said it perfectly. Play people who challenge you. If you continue to play against people below you or people you know you can win against you will never need to learn how to adapt and then you'll be braindead during an actual competitive match
I think a good first step to learning to adapt is doing it in small amounts. Its extremely hard to think ingame, but if you start out with just thinking to adapt on ledges, itll become second nature in 1 week. Then do tech rolls, air callouts, projectile conditioning, etc and eventually itll be easy to do
From what I can see, turning a positive situation to a positive situation is basically doing whatever you can to keep your existing positive situation.
To add on what I find works a lot: be aware of what options the character has and think of what would YOU do in that situation. This is how I get a lot of reads
Hey man. I found your smash UA-cam about a week ago and I just wanted to say thank you for your guides. They really helped my smash game and got me to think about my matches rather than just spam buttons in my opponents direction. Now all I have to do is figure out how to deal with heavies online lol. I get destroyed by all of them still (LAN adapter on the way so fingers crossed it helps). Keep up the good work man!
Honestly, I think that CPU training works decently for adaptation. Before quarentine, I lost to a pika player at my local. After a few months of just offline games and no humans, I decided to go online. I found that Pika player in an arena, lost the first three games. But then, I started to understand his dash attack patterns. I understood when he was desperate for the kill. I won the next 5 games. CPU training doesn’t teach you how to adapt, but it gives you the mind space to think purely about your opponent. I thought it was an interesting anecdote.
This is something that's helped me adapt and read players better (online and offline). These are a set of drills I would do 5-10 minutes each as a warm up before going online. 1. Go into training mode with a lvl 9 cpu on a map with no platforms - set them to run and lots of shuffling. Now, without using jump, try to grab them. In the beginning it will be difficult, but you'll find that the most optimal way to grab is when they're landing off of a jump. Learn to recognize this and read their jump for the grab. Also practice trying to grab them when they are on the ground and read their dodges. If the AI is spot dodging a lot when you're in range, delay your grab. As a challenge try to kill 3 cpus with nothing but grabs and without jumping at all. I found that just just ignoring jump and keeping things simple makes it really easy to hone in on this skill, and you'll start to notice in matches when it looks safe for you to grab as well. 2. Repeat the exact same exercise above but for forward smash, tilt, jab, up smash; whatever your character is strong at. Use techniques such as run dash reverse, pivoting, sliding tilts to score hits on the cpu. Do this without jumping or involving aerials. You'll start to find ways to read the cpu into walking into your smash attacks. 3. This one requires the cpu to be damaged to the point they get launched upwards - launch them up, then try to read where they are going to land. Check to see if they still have an air dodge they haven't used, or a second jump. Next, try jumping and fast falling when they are in the air to force them to air dodge. The cpu tends to use their air dodge when you jump up with them. This baits out their options and makes it really easy to continue juggling them. You'll find familiar situations like this online, and you'll feel more confident knowing what options you have. 4. Practice combo-ing the cpu and adapting to their escape options 5. Practice edge guarding 6. Spar with the AI turned on 7. Practice getting launched in the air by the cpu and using air dodge, double jumps, fast falls to return the ground without getting hit. Later on you can try this out on a map with platforms, with faster cpu characters(falcon, fox), or ones with hard to read recoveries like pikachu. I found doing all of these 30-45 minutes before a match really helped kick my ability to read into overdrive. I noticed a lot of the same situations pop up online, and I felt more confidence knowing what to do. Keep practicing this every day and you should start seeing considerable improvement.
Older video, but how to Power-Level your adaptation (for teching patterns): Step 1: Pick Ganondorf. Step 2: Land Flame Choke, preferably near center stage. Step 3: Since you can't do anything off a pure reaction, you'll need to adapt to read their option. Step 4: Try to regrab with Flame Choke off their selection. Step 5: Repeat 2-4 until either they reach 100+%, or they choose to lie on the ground. Step 6a: If they are at kill%, read their option with a Smash attack or an aerial to seal the stock. Then start at 2. Step 6b: If they're choosing to lie on the ground without selecting an option, punish with Dair into whatever you can get away with at their current %, then start at 2. Step 7 (optional): If in person or on a voice call, start verbally calling their option and/or counting Flame Chokes. Step 8: Profit!
I usually go into autopilot for a stock until I get a kill/ get killed, then I recap on what the opponent was spamming/how did he kill me/what was his habits, and then I adapt. I didn't even realize I was doing it until this video and I kinda thought about how do I process things, and yeah its really hard to describe how to adapt but you did a great job!
Good thing I'm watching BananaBoy's videos. I was having TONS of trouble with both Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch and Ganaondorf's Warlock Punch, especially Palutena's very annoying Counter move, so I'm glad that these videos are here to help me get around that. I main Sephiroth, so yeah...I'm glad I watched this video, because the next time I face off against these three players, they won't know what kind of new tricks I have up my sleeve. When I got Sephiroth, the first thing I did was go into Training Mode to learn what's good about my character {now official DLC main} and now I'm single-handedly DEMOLISHING my opponents.
i feel like you're the one kid on the playground who people didn't really want to hang out with but once we got to know you we loved you. aka you're not like top player status but you give the best advice for smash i've ever heard and i want to thank you for that :D
Loved the virbank city music with the sponsor part. Literally watched it because of the music. I love pokemon black and white and black and white 2. It's such an amazing game. Sad and happy and scary story. Amazing characters and design. Everything is so charming and the music is half of the reason I still play it to this day. So thank you for bringing my childhood back again. I know this doesn't have to do with anything from smash, just wanted to get this off of my chest
Funny you mention that around the 8 minute mark. I was explaining to somebody recently that at high level play it might actually be in your advantage to double-down on an option (like get up options or recovery options) because it's to be expected that you mix up your options to impair your opponent's ability to read you. The inverse is true at low level play because people spam options and the lowest level thinking opponent will attempt to cover the option they saw last. Meaning a repeat of an option can cost you, whereas doing so in a high level match can gain advantage. It's cool seeing the exact basis for this idea shown here.
Thx so much. I needed this. I was last night I was thinking I was a bad player when I usually tell myself a loss can be learned from. I'm going to keep trying with my main and learn these match ups.
I know this is an older video, but you know it really helped me feel better. I picked up the game really late, like a few weeks ago. And the uphill battle feels super difficult lol everyone has a lot more experience. So the whole feeling dumb thing hit home. I got really upset at the learning curve, but to hear someone good at the game say they went through it too makes me feel like i shouldn't break my controller just yet lol. Thanks im gonna slow it down and keep trying to learn. And watch my dismal faliure videos lol.
I never had to consciously go for reads, I just started to subconsciously observe what they do and punish it, and my reads slowly got more and more spectacular
What I needed to hear most was that "it's natural to feel lost and that you're just not smart enough to play the game yet" Although I don't feel the "yet" part
I feel like you can show these situations in real matches via online smash I know its not reliable but at least it gives example of what not to do and do it live and explain it LIVE lol. you're awesome man keep at it you inspired me to get back into competitive through your vids
I think that one thing that could help, especially with the whole retaining and using information with 0 thought, is looking up this psychological phenomena called Flow. If you've ever had a time where you were just in the zone and started kicking ass in the game before you even know what's happening, you've pretty much experience it
Heres the incredible thing about mkleo. He adapts really fast like he starts a battle and knows how someone will play so he spends his time conditioning the other player on how leo is playing then when he feels like he's ready he switches his play style and now his opponent has to adapt to a whole new play style. Basically he will start off playing one way like rolling from ledge, short hop back air on shield after recovering, etc... then once he feels like the opponent has learned this he switches and now does jump from ledge and pivot grabs on shield. Its hard to explain but if you watch him he is literally conditioning people while playing and its incredible. I mean I will always root for leos opponent but I highly respect him.
im 12 and allowed to play in tournaments next year and while i may have trouble with these things thanks to you and other peoples videos im learning but most of my attacks and combos are simply based on range and knockback so i just keep stringing things and it works
Learning situations to adapt to can help a lot and help you see them more often. Just play more and better players isn't very good advice. To learn situation having a name for them will help a lot to see them more often. Here are some easy ones to look for: how do they get out of the corner? (Jump, roll, attack) how do they tech? (Neutral, tech out, tech in), how do they burn up my invincibility from the angel platform? (Run to the corner, double jump over, go to a platform) There are lots of different situations but if you begin to quantify them and know how you want to punish the options in these situations it's much easier to adapt.
Hey BananaBoy, your upload schedule is honestly fine. Tbh it’s better to be consistent, rather than uncommon with uploads & a video a week is perfect. Keep up the great work ma dude.
I know this is pretty unrelated but I think that a video from you about stages would be very helpful to many people. It'd be nice to go into detail about about stage banning works, counter picks, and starting stages. Many people that are newer to the smash community have played the game mostly online and then when they try and go to a tournament they are often confused as to the importance of why someone would want to ban a certain stage or why certain stages are better for game one.
Adapting can also, ironically, let you return to your usual habits. I play Inkling mostly, when I see an opponent above me I just naturally go for up air, as it works both as a combo tool and kill move, but I was playing a yoshi player who just really liked Down B and would just hit me as I went for the up air. So I instead ran over, pulled shield instead and punished the down-B. Yoshi stopped abusing it knowing I'd just punish him... So I began using up-air again like I normally do, and now he'd fail to counter it.
Mid-match I like to take mental note of their go-to options in situations such as what they do from ledge, out of the corner, when they're on a platform, when they're in disadvantage, when I pressure their shield, etc. Most mid level players have one habit they can't help themselves from doing, and thats what you have to exploit the most. This is also useful when rewatching your own matches, take note of your habits in these types of situations!
Your information is good for a wide range of players. me I'm more of in the "Advanced" stages but play richter as a main so fighting against other "advanced" players who are equal or faster then me is a hassle. Thanks for the videos.
Not a nairo fanboy here but I liked the way he put it, "just watch the enemy character, you should know where your character is" or something along those lines. Since then I feel like I'm way better when I manage to actually do that and way worse when I get into this "fishing for opportunitys mode" which does not work most of the time against any half decent player. After starting with smash about half a year ago and dabbling around at about 5 mil gsp right now, I notice how easy it is to just focus on the enemy character if my opponent is less experienced then me and how hard it gets if he's better then me. So it's just like you said, just takes time and practise to get better at adapting.
i like to put players into categories based on patterns, which predict other habits, for example a player who likes to pressure my shield and is attack at my current position would be more likely too chose roll or getup attack since these are the options that turn the situation quickly. However a player who likes to bait with movement might choose jump because it gives them the most options to mix up with.
AHAHA i was watching your 30 ways to get better video and I was like "oh he should make a 'how to adapt mid match' video let me go to his latest video and tell him that" and low and behold the latest video is literally that lol
“You can go into training mode and discover what’s good about your character.”
*shows little Mac using air moves*
N O T H I N G
God i fugging died at that part
tHaT wAs ThE jOkE
BLASPHEMY
I’m pretty sure ive learned more About the game since you started uploading than the three years I played smash 4. Bless your soul fellow yoshi main
He got his first sponsorship he’s gonna go full time now
This aged poorly
Oh no, not it no pls no not RAID SHADOW LEGENDS
Ha
That aged really poorly
BananaBoy's probably one of if not the only Smash UA-camr(s) who focuses on how to improve as a player at the most fundamental level. Having videos on tech and characters and in-game know-how is certainly necessary, but I'm glad someone out there is sharing knowledge on literally the whole philosophy and mentality behind Smash
Also regarding your last sentiment, it's actually not about keeping track of all behavior in a match. The best players don't do that. Instead the best players develop shortcuts through time spent in game.
For example, anyone who's good at a match-up will know what tools the opponent has in neutral. The opponent COULD throw out some random bad option, but statistically when playing to the character's known strengths they're likely going to lead in with one of two options. Obviously this is because not all tools are worth using in all scenarios -- all scenarios have specific tools that are advantageous to use. Knowing this, the top player doesn't have to keep their eye on what the opponent is doing nearly as much as keeping in mind what this character generally does, and maybe a couple of mix-up options. Then it's down to player psychology. Understanding general player habits and getting in their head results in reads far more than keeping track of every variable throughout a given match.
Spend time with characters. Understand how people play. Understand WHY they play the way that they play. Understand when they do what they do. Then TRY to guess right when the time and opportunity is right. This is general adaptation. Responding to a dynamic threat on the basis of identifying likely options, observed over a large window of time.
In other words, because there's always an "optimal way to play", you'll be able to spot patterns in options chosen per scenario. Just with statistical analysis alone you're going to get a feel for what can come next based on what is advantageous for that particular character. This is the first half of the equation: understanding the character.
Once you understand the character, you understand what CAN possibly happen in any given scenario. And over long enough periods of analysis you'll begin to gather a significant understanding of what will PROBABLY happen next just by observing over-all character tech and human nature. But the second half is understanding the player specifically. People have different methods of doing this and this comment has already gone on FAR too long so I won't get into this too heavy. Besides, most of the time, for the average player, this won't even matter. I will say this though: through understanding what type of person you're playing and what habits they have, you narrow the possibilities in any given moment further. By understanding the character, you narrow possibilities down from say 10 to say 3. And through understanding your opponent you narrow that down from 3 to 1. It doesn't always work. But that's the human element here.
Gerald Wiseman thanks for writing this
really good piece of writing here. thanks !
This is great I agree with all of this. This is the kind of stuff that makes a player better than casuals. If you know this stuff and the other player doesn't then they're pretty much gonna lose
In case anyone is wondering how effective adapting is for a low-level player: I just tried it recently, just by noticing what the opponent did after reaching the ledge, and I almost instantly felt more confident and turned a close game into an easy sweep.
hey, it's that mother 3 thing that keeps appearing everywhere! **throws it aggressively**
@@the_neto06blawg
Everytime I see one of your videos, I'm just blown away by your intro
same
same
same
I’m blown away by the outro.
Wait...
I love how transparent the smash community is with sharing tips and tech. It's very refreshing.
9:18 “don’t be insecure ur hot lol”
low key solid advice. and great video
At 2:04 it showed Moses splitting the sea.
How to Choose a Secondary
How to Recover
How to Play under Pressure
these are some other ideas i kinda want to see turn into videos
My main is Robin, but I picked up Inkling as my secondary after doing squad strike with random characters until I said "You know what? This character is both good and fits my play style!" (Also I love Splatoon. That also helps)
I just play any character that feels pretty fine, which ended up being a lot ;-; help i main ganon wolf and hero
he already has a how to recover video
@@kalani2738 Someone already mentioned he has a recovery video.
I used to main Kirby but now I main the only character more powerful than it SANS
1:02 "buring a match" (no shade but it was just funny)
Before
I played Luigi because of alpharad
And the thumbnail says "nautral"
Noo i wanted to say that
BannaBoy: "I have sex daily"
BannaBoy: "Dyslexia... *UFCK!!*
I don't think English is the language for me
This is definitely a video I'm keeping in the records. I have a friend that I beat very seldom and it is frustrating. I do the training process: run through training mode, understand my character's frame's and options to the best of my ability and then take it to lvl 9s then take it online then take it to him. He adapts so well it makes it difficult for me to adapt but this definitely helps give me an idea of how I should start thinking in battle.
This is something I’ve been waiting for for a while, thanks for the amazing vid as always dude!
Did you pick up Luigi after or before playing elegant?
PersonaFan25 did you play hero before or after getting twacked at zero
@@peep9636 twacked
@@peep9636 twacked
@@peep9636 twacked
Dkillex twacked
Hey BananaBoy! I just wanted to let you know your videos like this make me really happy. Learning to adapt, to me, seems like the stage in which mediocre players plateu and drop smash. Your videos are fun to watch and never seem to give off any negative vibes despite this one holding the truth of hard work at the end. You're advice feels to come so softly and nicely that it encourages me to keep getting better. This video is most likely a saviour for some. Just wanted to let you know that you are a great member of the smash community. Thank you for being so cool and for helping others
Hey man thanks for these videos because it delves deep into the mentality of smash. My friends and people I play that are casual come to me asking, "how can I get better" and it's hard for me to explain that there is more to it than just running up to a character and hitting them with whatever move you feel so I've been recommending them to you cause the videos like these hit it right on the nail and they even help me to improve too. So thanks and keep making quality content! 👌👌
The Boys "now everybody say it with me: dont take risks, risks are risky."
Bro, ur advice is honestly godlike. These videos have without a doubt made me a better player and now I’m thinking abt actually going to tournaments.
people should go to tournaments regardless of their skill level
comett itun Oh yea totally, but personally I didn’t rly think I was good enough/ have enough confidence to go to one. Videos like these made me a better player while simultaneously making me more confident.
That’s great dude, just a word of advice that may or may not be obvious to you, but you will lose. A lot. Do not let it make you stop going, learn and analyse. Friendlies aren’t even adequate practice for tournaments, only tournaments are adequate practice for tournaments. Good luck man. I believe in you.
Lenti and also thx man! Rly appreciate the support!😁
I agree, ever since his how to approach video, that alone made me so much better. Then there was how to land, mentality in Smash, and what to do at your first tournament videos that helped out a lot too. Honestly almost all his videos have been the most helpful and fun tip videos to watch
I played competitive Pokemon right before playing competitive smash. And it helps a lot as Pokemon is a game of prediction and timed attacks. So thinking about your opponent's move in smash becomes simpler than before.
Great and relevant video as always.
As far as the "cool piece of advice that solves all your smash problems", you actually said it perfectly. Play people who challenge you. If you continue to play against people below you or people you know you can win against you will never need to learn how to adapt and then you'll be braindead during an actual competitive match
This is the best content I have heard on the game in a while! I will definitely pass this along.
Your videos always make me feel so positive about playing smash and improving competitively! Thanks for all your work on these
I think a good first step to learning to adapt is doing it in small amounts. Its extremely hard to think ingame, but if you start out with just thinking to adapt on ledges, itll become second nature in 1 week. Then do tech rolls, air callouts, projectile conditioning, etc and eventually itll be easy to do
I watched this in science class and my teacher didn't even question me
Y'all noticed how Banana Boy talked a lot about luigi and showed us a bunch of luigi clips after losing to elegant?
That’s 30% of the comments. I think people have noticed
From what I can see, turning a positive situation to a positive situation is basically doing whatever you can to keep your existing positive situation.
To add on what I find works a lot: be aware of what options the character has and think of what would YOU do in that situation. This is how I get a lot of reads
Hey man. I found your smash UA-cam about a week ago and I just wanted to say thank you for your guides. They really helped my smash game and got me to think about my matches rather than just spam buttons in my opponents direction. Now all I have to do is figure out how to deal with heavies online lol. I get destroyed by all of them still (LAN adapter on the way so fingers crossed it helps). Keep up the good work man!
"Discover what's good about each fighter yourself"
(Shows little Mac aerials)
Thanks for this video! I was feeling very clouded during fights and now I know how to deal with it. Thank you
"Well that's the key"
*starts crying*
Honestly, I think that CPU training works decently for adaptation. Before quarentine, I lost to a pika player at my local. After a few months of just offline games and no humans, I decided to go online. I found that Pika player in an arena, lost the first three games. But then, I started to understand his dash attack patterns. I understood when he was desperate for the kill. I won the next 5 games. CPU training doesn’t teach you how to adapt, but it gives you the mind space to think purely about your opponent. I thought it was an interesting anecdote.
Just found your channel tonight. Excellent content man. Both entertaining and informative.
This is something that's helped me adapt and read players better (online and offline). These are a set of drills I would do 5-10 minutes each as a warm up before going online.
1. Go into training mode with a lvl 9 cpu on a map with no platforms - set them to run and lots of shuffling. Now, without using jump, try to grab them. In the beginning it will be difficult, but you'll find that the most optimal way to grab is when they're landing off of a jump. Learn to recognize this and read their jump for the grab. Also practice trying to grab them when they are on the ground and read their dodges. If the AI is spot dodging a lot when you're in range, delay your grab. As a challenge try to kill 3 cpus with nothing but grabs and without jumping at all. I found that just just ignoring jump and keeping things simple makes it really easy to hone in on this skill, and you'll start to notice in matches when it looks safe for you to grab as well.
2. Repeat the exact same exercise above but for forward smash, tilt, jab, up smash; whatever your character is strong at. Use techniques such as run dash reverse, pivoting, sliding tilts to score hits on the cpu. Do this without jumping or involving aerials. You'll start to find ways to read the cpu into walking into your smash attacks.
3. This one requires the cpu to be damaged to the point they get launched upwards - launch them up, then try to read where they are going to land. Check to see if they still have an air dodge they haven't used, or a second jump. Next, try jumping and fast falling when they are in the air to force them to air dodge. The cpu tends to use their air dodge when you jump up with them. This baits out their options and makes it really easy to continue juggling them. You'll find familiar situations like this online, and you'll feel more confident knowing what options you have.
4. Practice combo-ing the cpu and adapting to their escape options
5. Practice edge guarding
6. Spar with the AI turned on
7. Practice getting launched in the air by the cpu and using air dodge, double jumps, fast falls to return the ground without getting hit.
Later on you can try this out on a map with platforms, with faster cpu characters(falcon, fox), or ones with hard to read recoveries like pikachu.
I found doing all of these 30-45 minutes before a match really helped kick my ability to read into overdrive. I noticed a lot of the same situations pop up online, and I felt more confidence knowing what to do. Keep practicing this every day and you should start seeing considerable improvement.
Thanks, I needed this as a Fox main
Keep up the good work!
Older video, but how to Power-Level your adaptation (for teching patterns):
Step 1: Pick Ganondorf.
Step 2: Land Flame Choke, preferably near center stage.
Step 3: Since you can't do anything off a pure reaction, you'll need to adapt to read their option.
Step 4: Try to regrab with Flame Choke off their selection.
Step 5: Repeat 2-4 until either they reach 100+%, or they choose to lie on the ground.
Step 6a: If they are at kill%, read their option with a Smash attack or an aerial to seal the stock. Then start at 2.
Step 6b: If they're choosing to lie on the ground without selecting an option, punish with Dair into whatever you can get away with at their current %, then start at 2.
Step 7 (optional): If in person or on a voice call, start verbally calling their option and/or counting Flame Chokes.
Step 8: Profit!
I usually go into autopilot for a stock until I get a kill/ get killed, then I recap on what the opponent was spamming/how did he kill me/what was his habits, and then I adapt. I didn't even realize I was doing it until this video and I kinda thought about how do I process things, and yeah its really hard to describe how to adapt but you did a great job!
Good thing I'm watching BananaBoy's videos. I was having TONS of trouble with both Captain Falcon's Falcon Punch and Ganaondorf's Warlock Punch, especially Palutena's very annoying Counter move, so I'm glad that these videos are here to help me get around that. I main Sephiroth, so yeah...I'm glad I watched this video, because the next time I face off against these three players, they won't know what kind of new tricks I have up my sleeve. When I got Sephiroth, the first thing I did was go into Training Mode to learn what's good about my character {now official DLC main} and now I'm single-handedly DEMOLISHING my opponents.
That raining desktop background of yours is dope(:
I was actually thinking about this yesterday. Glad to know that this is something I can improve on.
i feel like you're the one kid on the playground who people didn't really want to hang out with but once we got to know you we loved you. aka you're not like top player status but you give the best advice for smash i've ever heard and i want to thank you for that :D
You spelt Natural wrong in the thumbnail lol. "Nautral"
I’m pretty sure he meant natural
@ Holy Fuck
papa logan Really? I didn’t know that!
papa logan *brilliant*
@ no shit *Sherlock*
Loved the virbank city music with the sponsor part. Literally watched it because of the music. I love pokemon black and white and black and white 2. It's such an amazing game. Sad and happy and scary story. Amazing characters and design. Everything is so charming and the music is half of the reason I still play it to this day. So thank you for bringing my childhood back again. I know this doesn't have to do with anything from smash, just wanted to get this off of my chest
Funny you mention that around the 8 minute mark. I was explaining to somebody recently that at high level play it might actually be in your advantage to double-down on an option (like get up options or recovery options) because it's to be expected that you mix up your options to impair your opponent's ability to read you. The inverse is true at low level play because people spam options and the lowest level thinking opponent will attempt to cover the option they saw last. Meaning a repeat of an option can cost you, whereas doing so in a high level match can gain advantage.
It's cool seeing the exact basis for this idea shown here.
Thank you as an inkling player I’m learning to adapt the last few minutes gave me huge hopes props
I saw that “BAN HERO” part.
Melee Fox/Marth, Brawl Meta Knight, Smash 4 Diddy, and now Ultimate Hero. There will always be an OP character
He's not even OP. For newbies maybe, but anyone half decent at spacing can beat him without trouble.
Dr. Miles Manners fair. I’ve gotten better against him since posting this comment (also, for what it’s worth, I main Samus)
thanks banana boy you are my true mentor
Thx so much. I needed this. I was last night I was thinking I was a bad player when I usually tell myself a loss can be learned from. I'm going to keep trying with my main and learn these match ups.
I know this is an older video, but you know it really helped me feel better. I picked up the game really late, like a few weeks ago. And the uphill battle feels super difficult lol everyone has a lot more experience. So the whole feeling dumb thing hit home. I got really upset at the learning curve, but to hear someone good at the game say they went through it too makes me feel like i shouldn't break my controller just yet lol. Thanks im gonna slow it down and keep trying to learn. And watch my dismal faliure videos lol.
I never had to consciously go for reads, I just started to subconsciously observe what they do and punish it, and my reads slowly got more and more spectacular
What I needed to hear most was that "it's natural to feel lost and that you're just not smart enough to play the game yet"
Although I don't feel the "yet" part
Are you studying elegant since he beat you? I noticed there was a lot of footage or him
...his Luigi dying as the last clip may point to that.
I feel like you can show these situations in real matches via online smash I know its not reliable but at least it gives example of what not to do and do it live and explain it LIVE lol. you're awesome man keep at it you inspired me to get back into competitive through your vids
So to be good at adapting all I need is a *BIG* *BRAIN?*
Nah... A wrinkly brain.
you need to be able to identify patterns in your opponent and find solutions to what they are doing
comett itun it’s a joke
just big brain energy
🅱️ig 🅱️raiiiin!
I think that one thing that could help, especially with the whole retaining and using information with 0 thought, is looking up this psychological phenomena called Flow. If you've ever had a time where you were just in the zone and started kicking ass in the game before you even know what's happening, you've pretty much experience it
Heres the incredible thing about mkleo. He adapts really fast like he starts a battle and knows how someone will play so he spends his time conditioning the other player on how leo is playing then when he feels like he's ready he switches his play style and now his opponent has to adapt to a whole new play style. Basically he will start off playing one way like rolling from ledge, short hop back air on shield after recovering, etc... then once he feels like the opponent has learned this he switches and now does jump from ledge and pivot grabs on shield. Its hard to explain but if you watch him he is literally conditioning people while playing and its incredible. I mean I will always root for leos opponent but I highly respect him.
oh my god i was thinking about the outro song last night but i did not know the name. you are my savior😳
im 12 and allowed to play in tournaments next year and while i may have trouble with these things thanks to you and other peoples videos im learning
but most of my attacks and combos are simply based on range and knockback so i just keep stringing things and it works
Nobody's commented on it, but that puzzle clip was satisfying af
BananaBoySSB: Go watch top players of your character
Me who plays Mii swordfighter: -____-
"Nautral" well done my Yoshi friend
( Thumbnail )
Learning situations to adapt to can help a lot and help you see them more often. Just play more and better players isn't very good advice. To learn situation having a name for them will help a lot to see them more often. Here are some easy ones to look for: how do they get out of the corner? (Jump, roll, attack) how do they tech? (Neutral, tech out, tech in), how do they burn up my invincibility from the angel platform? (Run to the corner, double jump over, go to a platform)
There are lots of different situations but if you begin to quantify them and know how you want to punish the options in these situations it's much easier to adapt.
Ayyyy watching this in school, this is better than learning in school
I remember I watched this vid a year ago and didnt realize how much it helped me
Hey BananaBoy, your upload schedule is honestly fine. Tbh it’s better to be consistent, rather than uncommon with uploads & a video a week is perfect. Keep up the great work ma dude.
Im telling you. The next generation of smash players are going to be unstoppable thanks to quick play and bananaboy
THERE WAS A "let's make a change!" AD AS I CLICKED ON THE VIDEO
YOU'RE A GODSEND
Thank you. I’ve been thinking about pushing my joker and inkling to there absolute limit so I have a lot to learn
Thank you for these videos.
They put me in a really healthy mindset. :D
Also, I dig all the vocaloid songs at the end
This is perfectly timed Banana Boy!
This is the only video many smash players will need
Making Monday great
This.. this is exactly what I needed
Dude, this was literally what I was searching for last night
this man meditating to get good at smash.
I know this is pretty unrelated but I think that a video from you about stages would be very helpful to many people. It'd be nice to go into detail about about stage banning works, counter picks, and starting stages. Many people that are newer to the smash community have played the game mostly online and then when they try and go to a tournament they are often confused as to the importance of why someone would want to ban a certain stage or why certain stages are better for game one.
Your editing is fantastic as always
Christ, 64k already! I remember when you had less than 1000
0:31
ah, a fellow man of culture
Eeeeeee
"You may have outsmarted me, but I have outsmarted your outsmarting!"
Adapting can also, ironically, let you return to your usual habits.
I play Inkling mostly, when I see an opponent above me I just naturally go for up air, as it works both as a combo tool and kill move, but I was playing a yoshi player who just really liked Down B and would just hit me as I went for the up air.
So I instead ran over, pulled shield instead and punished the down-B. Yoshi stopped abusing it knowing I'd just punish him... So I began using up-air again like I normally do, and now he'd fail to counter it.
great video! and also congrats to beating bestness!
Basically, play the game. A lot. And against better or same level players.
3:50 Selection screen nostalgia.
I just love the fact that your pfp is the most basic picture of yoshi
that feeling when your fans give you your video ideas
So we gon just ignore the “nautral” in the thumbnail
Mid-match I like to take mental note of their go-to options in situations such as what they do from ledge, out of the corner, when they're on a platform, when they're in disadvantage, when I pressure their shield, etc. Most mid level players have one habit they can't help themselves from doing, and thats what you have to exploit the most. This is also useful when rewatching your own matches, take note of your habits in these types of situations!
8:27 When I watch a combo tutorial:
positive correlation
Your information is good for a wide range of players. me I'm more of in the "Advanced" stages but play richter as a main so fighting against other "advanced" players who are equal or faster then me is a hassle. Thanks for the videos.
Not a nairo fanboy here but I liked the way he put it, "just watch the enemy character, you should know where your character is" or something along those lines.
Since then I feel like I'm way better when I manage to actually do that and way worse when I get into this "fishing for opportunitys mode" which does not work most of the time against any half decent player. After starting with smash about half a year ago and dabbling around at about 5 mil gsp right now, I notice how easy it is to just focus on the enemy character if my opponent is less experienced then me and how hard it gets if he's better then me. So it's just like you said, just takes time and practise to get better at adapting.
That DM guy was me! Thank you!
Adaptation never heard of that ban any top tier
i like to put players into categories based on patterns, which predict other habits, for example a player who likes to pressure my shield and is attack at my current position would be more likely too chose roll or getup attack since these are the options that turn the situation quickly. However a player who likes to bait with movement might choose jump because it gives them the most options to mix up with.
1:02 “buring” a match. 😱
AHAHA i was watching your 30 ways to get better video and I was like "oh he should make a 'how to adapt mid match' video let me go to his latest video and tell him that" and low and behold the latest video is literally that lol
I love your content, and your advices, I look forward to see your Japan blog!
Environmental Science Exam: define adaptation
Me: changing your in-game behavior based o. Knowledge gained during match
ok your outro is adorable
One of the best smash contents on UA-cam. Congrats! And thank you :)
Thanks for making these videos my man super helpful!