Recently, the fear of a Fox only future has become much more real. Techniques once thought impossible for human hands are becoming commonplace, with players such as Hax executing frame perfect techniques such as double-shine grab on shield consistently. However, I don’t see a future where everyone plays Fox; instead,  the community has been doing work optimizing other characters as a whole.

Sheik

Sheik has a lot of untapped potential.

Sheik’s game has started to stagnate, and the rising popularity of Fox, one of her worst matchups, has further hurt her recent performances. However, with some optimizations in her game, Sheik can return to prominence.

With perfect reaction tech chasing, a Sheik can zero to death Fox, Falco, and Falcon off of a single grab. Many top Sheiks, like Mew2king for example, often go for reads on their tech chases instead of reacting to the tech option, thus giving a chance for a whiffed punish that they get nothing for. Reaction tech chasing is certainly possible, and putting some hours in the lab can make a world of a difference. Spending some time in 1/2 speed in Training Mode and looking at the individual frames of the Space Animal’s tech animations with the 20XX Hack Pack’s “Develop” Debug Mode toggle have really helped to improve my personal reaction tech chasing. For more information on potential optimizations with Sheik, check out DruggedFox’s fellow MIOM article.

Shroomed defeats Mew2king in Sheik dittos at Apex 2015. Photo credits to Robert Paul.

Advancing Sheik’s metagame, Shroomed has put a lot of work into furthering Sheik’s neutral game since switching from Doc. Shroomed has beaten Mew2king, widely renowned as the best Sheik for years, in Sheik dittos twice: he narrowly beat Mew2king in a BO5 in Sheik dittos at Pacific Northwest Regionals (although M2K did go Fox one game and later got revenge by 3-0ing Shroomed in Loser’s Finals) and cleanly beat him again in a BO3 at Apex 2015. Mew2king’s Sheik, while unparalleled in punish game, has stagnated in other elements of the game while Shroomed has worked to improve Sheik as a character.

Captain Falcon

Falcon was one of the most underrepresented characters in 2014. Can 2015 prove to be a resurgence of everyone’s favorite racer?

Falcon was one of the characters most hurt by the recent rise of Fox. With Hax switching to Fox in early 2014, Falcon has been left in the dust. However, there are several tools Falcons can use to further develop his own game.

Falcon’s movement is arguably the best in the game. With proper use of Pivots and Shield Stops, Falcon’s already awe-inspiring movement gains numerous new tools. A pivot allows you to control space without the lag of a wavedash, and shield stopping gives more options out of a dash.

Falcon has a myriad of up and coming players.

For examples of players furthering Falcon’s meta, look all over! Whether it’s S2J with his unorthodox yet somehow amazing combo game to Wizzrobe with his magnificent punishes and coverage of tech options, Falcons everywhere have been putting a lot of work into furthering his game.

Educational Streams and YouTube Channels

Smash Practice with Zhu and Cactus

Zhu (left) and Cactuar (right) discuss their experience playing Melee in a great video titled “The Coolest Thing in the World” by Gangly.

Smash Practice with Zhu and Cactus is an educational YouTube channel and stream every Thursday that talks about concepts in Melee in a very in depth manner. Zhu and Cactuar break down the topic they’re discussing into its very basic details, and then slowly build up what the player should be doing and thinking about in that area. Smash Practice’s strength lies in Cactuar’s eloquence of speech and ability to break even abstract concepts down into easily understandable terms, while Zhu provides a needed light hearted dialogue that helps to evaluate and understand the concept. Also, their comedic banter and chemistry is impeccable, meaning any interaction between the two is always both fun and educational.

20GX

20GX is a stream and YouTube channel from the Florida Falcons Gravy, Gahtzu, and Wizzrobe. 20GX is specifically tailored for higher level Falcon mains. 20GX’s strength lies in the utter depth that they go into topics; while Smash Practice breaks concepts down and then builds them up, 20GX jumps right into new techniques and covers them completely. While this may make it hard to understand for lower level players, 20GX doesn’t waste time needlessly going over basic concepts for experienced players. The utter amount of knowledge about Falcon that Gravy has is astounding. Additionally, the channel is useful for more than just Falcon mains. 20GX’s video dissecting the mechanics of jump, which goes into tech chasing, shield stops, and general momentum out of dash, significantly helped to improve my tech chasing and practice with Sheik.

SSBM Tutorials by Kira and Kellen

SSBM Tutorials by Kira and Kellen is a YouTube channel that provides educational videos for numerous characters in Melee. Whereas Smash Practice focuses on concepts and 20GX focuses on Falcon specifically, SSBM Tutorials has videos from beginner to advanced techniques for most of the Melee Top Tiers, with more diversity on the way. SSBM Tutorials’ strength lies in its succinctness, focus, and visual aids. Due to the nature of a scripted video versus an improvisational stream, Kira and Kellen can edit the videos to be succinct and have visual aids whereas a stream is more often just a person speaking on the spot. However, due to the short length of the videos, SSBM Tutorials often doesn’t go as in depth concept wise as Smash Practice or 20GX.

PewPewUniversity

PewPewU hot off the heels of defeating HungryBox at Apex 2015. Photo Credits to Robert Paul.

PewPewUniversity is a stream and YouTube channel by PewPewU. PewPewUniversity combines the short length of SSBM Tutorials with the personality of a streamed video. PewPewUniversity differs from Smash Practice and 20GX in that PewPewU performs the stream alone; in his videos, he speaks directly to the audience rather than a streaming partner, thus creating a more personal educational video. PewPewU’s videos focus on Marth, but the concepts he discusses can be used by most characters.

Zero to Hero

Zero to Hero, run by MIOM’s own Tafokints, features concept overview and match analysis and of a new player in Atrioc, a Twitch employee. Every Monday on the MeleeItOnMe Twitch, Tafokints analyzes Atrioc’s recent tournament sets and thus helps him to see his nooby mistakes. For newer players, this stream will help you to see what you potentially could be doing poorly or help you to understand how to analyze your own tournament sets. As both Tafo and Atrioc are Sheik mains, Zero to Hero focuses on Sheik, although the concepts discussed can help in all matchups.

Conclusion

Melee is a varied game with many great characters; don’t let your character be left behind in the coming optimized world of 20XX.

Melee is an extremely deep game with much, much more still waiting to be discovered, implemented, and perfected. Always be searching for new techniques and strategies to better your game and character. Make sure to use the educational resources available to you. And as always, happy smashing!