This post will mostly be aimed at new players who have started with Fox or low level players who have recently switched to Fox. More experienced players who are switching to Fox might find their experience might vastly differ.

A brand new Fox is one of the most underwhelming things in Melee if you’re not a fairly experienced player already. You might just be starting Melee and you’re learning all of the most basic stuff. Half of the time you cannot control Fox’s Short Hop. You constantly get shieldgrabbed for missing your L-cancel with Dair on shield (but why is that?). Sweetspots are purely random at this point. It’s a brave choice and a plunge in the deep.

It’s not what was advertised. Fox is the best in the game, Leffen does a 0-to-death on Peach off a shine, Mango can barely be edgeguarded, and every grab is a stock in spacie dittos. And here you are, grinding 8 hours in your room per week just to get your ass whooped at your locals by the Falco that uses nothing Laser and Up-tilt. You absolutely put more work in than the Sheik that just uses Forward-tilt > Fair at every percent, even when it shouldn’t kill. Then why does a rolling Marth spamming Forward-smash and counter still beat you?

I’ll take you back to 2010 when I switched to Fox, coming off six months of a fruitless Donkey Kong endeavor. Switching to Fox was not easy, I couldn’t even waveshine. How do you even start learning the character with the most options in the game? One of my saving graces was the timeless guide by CunningKitsune. It’s a must-read for every new Fox. He goes in-depth into every single move and advanced technique. This guide also taught me to take it slow, practice one thing at a time. It took a long time before my Fox became serious competition. In 2012 I finally started placing higher than last or second to last and made it past the Amateur bracket. TWO YEARS. This was back in the day when a major Dutch tournament had 32 entrants. Nowadays there is plenty of practice for most people and you should see improvement more clearly since there are many more people to measure yourself against.

However, I want to warn every new Fox player to disregard tournament results, wins and losses in the beginning (especially at weeklies or locals). They tell you absolutely nothing about your Fox or your improvement with him. The best judge of improvement are you. Do you feel better about your play than you did last month? If you can record, look back and see what you did better. To stay motivated, pick one player who is a bit better than you (but not much) and set a goal to beat him and outplace him. Don’t aim too high at first, because you’ll just get discouraged.

The reason I tell you to disregard results stems from the fact that Fox is literally everyone’s combo fodder. You don’t think Marth mains practice vs Peach at home right? Every single Falco does his favourite combo’s on Fox in training mode. Your character is the easiest character to combo and also the character most people practice against. Making one mistake can cost you a stock and trust me; you will make plenty of mistakes.

This piece is not meant to demotivate you, but to illustrate Fox’s (or if you don’t play Fox but still want to relate, fill in your own character’s name) learning curve. In my opinion, Fox is one of the hardest top tiers in the beginning, but the hard work will pay off. At some point everything will click. You will no longer be getting gimped like an idiot, you won’t always get grabbed for your aerials, your combo DI will make it harder for your opponents, your punishes will be hard. It just takes a shit-ton of practice. Luckily, I believe, Fox players are the hardest grinders precisely because nothing comes easy at the beginning. Don’t get discouraged and keep on the grind, you WILL get there.