In Melee, people like to use the words “aggressive” and “defensive” to describe characters and playstyles. Expanding on this, they like to use the words “approach” and “camp” to describe what is done by these characters and players. Whenever you view the game by such a (horribly false) dichotomy, it becomes obvious that “approaching” is inherently bad and that “camping” is inherently strong. What a tragic state our game has gotten to, right? The best players have to be boring and camp to win! Well, not quite. This “approach or camp” mentality is something that a lot of newer (and unfortunately, even a lot of not-so-new) players have. This mindset is an over-simplification of the game that completely denies and ignores how much depth of interaction this game actually has. In order to overcome this mindset, it is necessary to take a step back to examine what is actually happening in these situations and why we observe this disparity between aggression and defense. From this point on, we can start brainstorming solutions and routes of advancement.

I have a friend (let’s call him Barney). He plays Captain Falcon, and he greatly suffers from this mentality, and it sorely inhibits his development as a player. You are probably acquainted with a few Barneys in your local scene. If you don’t, there’s a fairly good chance that it’s you. Anyway, let’s talk more about Barney: he’s actually really amazing when he’s not being terrible. Whenever he gets a hit, he is a god: he’s a genius when it comes to memorizing and applying frame data (one time, he memorized the MSRB prices of tons of items for some silly reason), so his guaranteed punishes are on-point. On top of that, he’s insanely tricky. He understands how to condition people (and when to capitalize on his conditioning), and he’s got an inexhaustible playbook of tricks that he uses to make people fall for his shenanigans. Anyway, that’s enough of me talking about how godlike Barney is. The purpose of my praise was to illustrate this fact: even though this guy has a LOT of potential and a LOT of talent already, he’s extremely limited in practice due to this self-defeating “approach or camp” mentality. He’s the type of player who will fling himself across the entire stage at a grounded Sheik and will blame the game when he inevitably loses a stock. This is approximately what follows afterwards.

Barney: How am I supposed to approach Sheik with Falcon?!

Me: You’re not supposed to, strictly speaking.

Barney: Well, even if camping is stronger than being aggressive, I refuse to resort to it. Being aggressive is just such a more awesome way to play the game.

Me: Why am I friends with you again?

There are two problems in this scenario. The first problem is that he is taking the vast array of options available to him and oversimplifying his choices to two: approach or camp. The second problem is that his definition of “approaching” strictly includes unnecessary and unwarranted commitment, impatience, overextending, and jumping at the opponent for no good reason.

Let’s be symmetrical and address the first problem first. The first problem (oversimplifying his choices) really boils down to two incorrect assumptions. First, he makes the erroneous assumption and oversimplification that he only has two completely polarized choices: direct-engagement or complete avoidance of the opponent. He fails to realize that all of the space between him and his opponent is a no-man’s-land where he can act intermediately (i.e. between the two polarized choices) and “outplay” the opponent, exerting his influence on the other person in a more subtle and indirect way. The second assumption is that given this incredibly narrow array of choices, he needs to pick one and commit to it, not acknowledging the fact that he could just… do nothing. If anyone reading has seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, then I will quote a passage from this show that captures this idea perfectly.

Bumi: Listen to me, Aang. There are options in fighting, called jing. It’s a choice of how you direct your energy.

Aang: I know! There’s positive jing when you’re attacking, and negative jing when you’re retreating!

Bumi: … and neutral jing when you do nothing!

Aang: There are three jings?

Bumi: Well, technically, there are eighty-five. But, let’s just focus on the third. Neutral jing is the key to earthbending. It involves listening and waiting for the right moment to strike.

This passage really points us in the direction of the next topic of discussion: patience. Patience is such an invaluable asset when it comes to Melee, and it’s such a misunderstood asset, as well. When people think about patience, they think about passivity. They think about playing passively and simply reacting to the opponent’s actions. This is a lot closer to the goal we have in mind, but it still fails to capture the real virtue of patient play. The key of patient play is avoiding premature, unnecessary commitment. It’s about not being impulsive. It’s about controlling your inhibitions. Patient play is being comfortable in an uncomfortable situation, understanding that your opponent is about as uncomfortable as you are.

To be honest, there are some moments in Melee where you have zero good options (for example, if you’re trapped in a corner), and this is where patience becomes an invaluable virtue. If you wait just one second longer, the situation may change slightly, opening a window for you to act. However, this window will not be open for very long, so you need to take it when you can. A mnemonic I’ve developed is MAGGIE: Make Adjustments, Go Get It Energized. In other words, you need to always be vigilant of what is happening in the game, making adjustments accordingly and basing your decision making and commitment on the “clues” that you see. Whenever you see the chance, you need to go get it, or it will slip away.

I think a good analogy for Melee interactions is that they’re almost like games of chicken with your opponent (Chicken: a game where two people drive straight at each other, and the person who swerves from the path first loses). You don’t want to commit too hastily, or else you’re basically letting your opponent win the exchange for free. If you keep your cool (and in the case of Melee, put pressure on your opponent) and wait for your opponent to make the first commitment, then you’re the one who comes out on top. If you wait too long, your opponent will basically decide that you won’t do anything to them, and then you’ll get hit by a car and die.

Now that I’ve addressed problem #1, let’s talk about problem #2. The conception that some players have about “approaching” is… honestly, just awful gameplay. Whenever some players think about “approaching,” they imagine (as I said earlier), unnecessary and unwarranted commitment, impatience, overextending, and jumping at the opponent for no good reason.

I already discussed commitment and patience earlier, but I’ll briefly talk about it one more time in the context of the neutral game example. Whenever you commit to an “approach,” you essentially give the opponent information that they can use to counter you. Let’s assume the same scenario earlier where Falcon jumps at Sheik and dies. In the neutral situation, the game is even(ish) between the two players. However, that changes once Falcon “approaches.” Falcon runs at Sheik, so Sheik knows that Falcon will be aggressive. Falcon jumps at Sheik, so Sheik knows that Falcon is more committed to action. Knowing that Falcon is committing to action, Sheik’s array of viable options expands greatly. Knowing that Falcon will commit, Sheik can counter-commit with slower, stronger, and longer moves with impunity (or she can avoid Falcon entirely and punish him after he misses, as opposed to punishing him head-on). This issue of commitment and reaction is, in my opinion, the biggest contributing factor to the perceived “defender’s advantage” and “overextending” that exists in Smash.

Initially, I intended for this to be a short blog about defender’s advantage, but I ended up expanding on all of my supporting ideas, and the blog ended up being a lot longer than intended. Anyway, I hope this was an informative read.