The Melee Player's Guide to Interaction, Part 2

Part 2: Reads and Reactions
Borp: “You get almost all the tech-chases. I don’t understand, are those predictions or reactions?”
Drephen: “Well, that’s the fundamental question of Smash. Personally, I don’t like the distinction. If you predict right, then you react much faster.”

The distinction between a read and a reaction can be difficult to conceptualize. Many players and commentators often mistakenly call certain plays one or the other. One particular debate that comes to mind is when Ice Climbers player Dizzkidboogie kept hitting Pittsburgh’s resident technical Falco with a “tick throw,” jab to grab. This sequence exists in basically every fighting game, albeit with different counterplay in each. In most fighters, you jab to bait your opponent into blocking or to stuff their option, then quickly walk forward and grab them. In Melee, this setup is usually far more damaging, given the massive rewards netted by landing a grab. This is especially true for Ice Climbers, who rely on the threat of their good grounded normals to get the opponent to shield, and punish this with their grab infinite. Their jab is also a decent move on its own, coming out in four frames and setting the opponent up to possibly be hit by ftilt, dsmash, or grab. To return to the previous example, the Falco in question asked what he could do in response to jab grab. Dizz told him to reactively SDI the jab and spotdodge or roll away from the grab. This made our Falco very upset because jab is less frames than the average human reaction time. It should therefore be impossible to reactively SDI it. This seems to make sense at first, but to say that one cannot SDI the jab is to say that one cannot see the jab coming. Also, two climbers mean twice the hitstop (that’s “hitlag” for you Smash kids) in which to SDI. Against other players on Pittsburgh’s PR who know when I like to jab, hitting them with jab grab can be difficult, as they will only miss the SDI when they're not expecting me to. By understanding your opponent’s common openers and responses to your own moves, you can begin to slow the game down. For the most part, fighting games are about training yourself consciously to react in subconscious situations. You need to do the correct option at the correct time, and therefore cannot rely on your reactions alone. Learning to make split-second decision after split-second decision is critical. At Big House 7, I remember playing friendlies against a Falco with my Sheik. I faired into him, and he powershielded. In that split second, I realized that his powershield would mean he was more likely to do something immediate out of shield, and so I dsmashed to try and “counter-hit” him out of his option. It worked, and my dsmash killed. This lightning fast reaction was due to many factors – powershields have a distinct noise and visual cue, and I expected him to at least shield the fair. The more times you are exposed to a situation like that, you can be better prepared with a proper response.

For every option in Smash or fighting games, there can be many correct counters. Sometimes, this counter will be very difficult to execute or recognize in the split second you have, but still. The point remains: train yourself to recognize the correct inputs in the situations you face, trusting in your mind to predict the future state of the game and in your hands to produce the correct response. There is no more obvious example of this concept than Daigo Umehara’s famous comeback on Justin Wong, known as EVO Moment 37. In the split second before Justin unleashed his super to chip his opponent out, Daigo predicted the timing of the first parry (which prevents chip damage), then managed to parry the remaining hits in a difficult rhythm. Should he have missed a parry or even blocked a single hit, he would have lost the round. After the incredible parries, Daigo even landed the difficult killing combo. In his book, he talks about how this was almost an out-of-body experience, being so in the zone that his "hands moved as if possessed." That is the kind of skill and Zen-like state of mind required to reach the very top. While climbing towards that level, you should take joy in finding new situations. When you do, add the possible proper responses to a (hopefully long) mental list of these game-states. Even if Fox and Falco can shine you in a single frame, you can still SDI – so long as you can understand when you will get shined. As strong as these characters are, it's on you to be prepared with any possible counterplay. When you are prepared for what will come next, your reaction times can be made much faster than they would be without a read. This is called “biasing your reaction time.”

Traditional fighting games teach this concept in the hit-confirm, or being prepared to combo after getting the opening hit. Almost always, the sound and animation for hit and block will be very different, and this is not by accident. These aspects of sound and visual design are there to help the player react to getting a hit in order to continue into their combo. If the initial attack is blocked, they can back off or switch to a safe blockstring. As such, the player has two general outcomes towards which they can bias their reaction time. If the result isn’t what you expected, you still have a chance to react appropriately. This simple concept makes up a large chunk of traditional fighting gameplay, and each handles it in different ways. Street Fighter, with only one or two normals in most combos before a special cancel, requires quick reactions and a solid read to be sure one doesn't uppercut a blocking opponent. Anime fighters like Guilty Gear, on the other hand, allow the player to do a few lights before cancelling into their medium normal and into other moves from there. This makes hit-confirming much more lenient. The most obvious application of biased reactions in Smash can be found in the knockdown game. Melee’s fantastic sound and visual design, along with the huge amount of hitstop, make it obvious when you score a hit. Of course, you should always be preparing for the future state of the game and readying yourself to react appropriately. You should strive to be in a zone where you can read, bait, and punish seamlessly and almost subconsciously, which can only be possible once a large amount of conscious knowledge is acquired. Knockdowns are a good first application of this way of playing Melee. When you are tech-chasing someone, you should prepare a follow-up aimed for where you think they’re going to tech based on their habits. It’s usually best to prioritize tech in place, as this is the hardest option to react to. Overly focusing on this fact can lead to you giving up free tech rolls, however, so be careful. As Mango often says, Melee is all about mixups. As another tip, people generally tech in similar ways when they DI in a certain direction. For example, many spacies will often tech in place and shine after being dthrown by Sheik and holding DI behind. This skill isn’t just for Sheik mains, of course. Scoring a knockdown with any character can lead into more damage or even a kill so long as you are prepared with the correct follow-up. As obvious as this sounds, staying focused and remembering your opponent's previous responses in these situations is critical. Remember the DI he used, the way he teched, his common recovery patterns and ledge options. More importantly, be ready to punish these habits. You can even use your knowledge of tech-chasing while being tech-chased yourself. Sometimes you might want to tech roll towards an edge, knowing that your opponent will be expecting you to either tech in place or roll in, away from that edge. This works especially well against slower characters like Peach or Ganondorf. When an option is perceived as “bad” it can often become good again. More on that later. Understanding your opponent’s habits can allow you to make plays much faster than the typical limits of human reaction time. Relying on “pure” reaction is as foolish as relying only on the punish game. Again, even if you mess up your read, you can still try to react. This is especially true if you’re playing as Sheik or Falcon, who can simply run to cover the opponent’s tech rolls. With wavedash-heavy characters like ICs or Luigi, it’s a much harder commitment once you start moving in one direction, so your read better be good and your reactions better be quick. Like in all aspects of the game, biasing your reaction time is extremely helpful in tech-chases.

In short, understanding your opponent’s typical responses to the situations you put him in will give you a massive advantage in terms of reacting to his options. The reverse is also true, of course, and that level of split-second understanding and interaction between two people is what makes fighting games so fun. This principle is an extension of fundamentals, and allows for the two players to meaningfully engage each other. As basic as it sounds, it can be difficult to stay in that zone when you make a bad read or are getting outplayed repeatedly. Centering yourself and attempting to adapt is key. The number of layers to the mental game in this genre is immense. I’ll cover more on this in my next blog entry, where I will discuss the concept of yomi.