About Daniel Lee

I am a Melee analyst, journalist, and commentator. I love to write narratives about players and deep analysis of individual matches and rivalries. Creator of the "Zero2Hero" series for Melee to train new players and a regular on the Melee It On Me Podcast
Feb 24, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up (2/24/14)

By |February 24, 2014|Default|5 Comments

Welcome to our third edition “Weekly Wrap-Up” to get a quick scope of all of the SSBM happenings over the previous weekend! If you want to promote your local scene/region, contact Daniel Lee on facebook or email DanielLee912@gmail.com to have your event results posted here!
[…]

Feb 20, 2014

Training Tools: How much can you punish?

By |February 20, 2014|Default|2 Comments

Top players win matches because they can maximize the amount of damage they get out of every opening. Often, we stand in awe when we see Mew2king execute a zero-to-death combo on his opponents. Armada was once quoted to say that people don’t punish hard enough and that improving one’s punishment game is the easiest way to improve and win more sets. In his earlier days, Dr. PeePee would watch his videos to see how much damage he got off of each opening. He strived to at least get 50% off of each opening.

What is a punishment?

Everyone has their own loose definition of punishment. In SSBM, there are a combination of things that are valuable which include stocks, percentages, stage position, and momentum. The maximum punishment that can be achieved is taking off a stock off your opponent. Increasing your opponent’s percentage is also a desirable trait of a punishment. Next is relative stage position. Having the center of the stage has great value and, in some instances, maintaining that center stage is more important than racking additional percentage. When I use the term “momentum”, I’m referring to the ability to move and cover a large amount of space. A “shielding” enemy covers much less than an enemy that’s dash dancing.

[…]

Feb 17, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up (2/17/14)

By |February 17, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Welcome to our third edition “Weekly Wrap-Up” to get a quick scope of all of the SSBM happenings over the previous weekend! If you want to promote your local scene/region, contact Daniel Lee on facebook or email DanielLee912@gmail.com to have your event results posted here!
[…]

Feb 12, 2014

Spotlight: r/Smashbros

By |February 12, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Content will be light this week, but I want to give a shoutout to the r/smashbros site on Reddit.

There are regular submissions of SSB4 updates, videos, highlights, and good discussion. Also, they have great resources all tabulated on the top […]

Feb 11, 2014

MIOM | Tafokints advice for having a Better Tournament Mindset

By |February 11, 2014|Default|4 Comments

There’s been a decent demand for mindset related questions. So here’s five tips from me on how to improve your mindset.

1. Focus on the match at hand

Often times, I see people beat themselves mentally by thinking about their possible place in the bracket based on things that haven’t happened yet.

“If I beat _____, then I have to play ______ and I might get top 5!”

“Ugh, if I lose, then I have to play my rival and I might do terribly”

To give a geeky analogy, our brains are like RAM. It can only handle so much information before it begins to forget things. By wasting resources on things that don’t matter, you’re spending fewer resources on the actual match itself. When you’re playing your match, nothing should matter besides the two characters on the screen and the stage itself. I see people frequently do worse in a tournament set because they are so preoccupied with how they will place or what other people think of them.

[…]

Feb 10, 2014

Weekly Wrap Up (2/10/14)

By |February 10, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Welcome to the “Weekly Wrap-Up” to get a quick scope of all of the SSBM happenings over the previous weekend! If you want to promote your local scene/region, fill out this form:

FORM 
[…]

Feb 7, 2014

Resource for a Better Mindset

By |February 7, 2014|Default|1 Comment

Many people expressed an interest in learning to how to have a better mindset in tournament. Although I have some tips to help, I wanted to showcase a particular Smasher who has been writing on these topics for a while. […]

Feb 6, 2014

How To: Find a Good Gamecube Controller

By |February 6, 2014|Default|5 Comments

Finding a good Gamecube Controller can be quite difficult. These controllers can’t be found regularly at retail stores and even at gaming specialty stores such as Gamestop.

Here are some common questions in regards to Gamecube controllers.

[…]

Feb 5, 2014

FAQ: How to Get Started into Competitive Melee

By |February 5, 2014|Default|0 Comments

As a team, we want to cater to helping people of all skill levels. Here we have a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) and resources to answer those questions.

This post is a work in progress, but will grow as feedback from the community comes in and guides are made.

If you have something that you feel needs to be added to a common FAQ, fill out this survey

[…]

Feb 4, 2014

Apex 2014: Top 64 Singles Results by the numbers

By |February 4, 2014|Default|0 Comments

Here are some numbers based on the top 64 placings of APEX 2014 SSBM Singles Bracket
Regions

Top 64
Top 16

Atl South
9
5

East Coast
19
1

Midwest
1
0

International
10
3

West Coast
21
6

Southwest
4
1

These are roughly the numbers that are expected in a top 64 distribution. EC and WC had the most of any region representing the top 64, but the South and International scenes had great representation in both the Top 64 and Top 16.  Although the east and west coasts had great representation in the top 64, the slight fall off in the Top 16 indicates that the elite tier players under-performed

[…]