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.
I define a “punishment” as the percentage/stocks accumulated from the start of a combo until the opponent has momentum to move around again. This means that a punish keeps going even if the combo counter wouldn’t necessarily increase.
Even though the combo is disjointed, Lucky doesn’t have full access of his move-set during the moment the F-Tilt that starts the punish.
Why is a punish game important?
Having a better punishment game equates to more damage and more stocks. To nerd it up, let’s use this game theory example.
Scenario 1: Two players with similar punishment games and neutral games
Imagine if both players hit each other roughly an equal amount of times and punish each other relatively the same. This is similar to two people randomly playing rock-paper-scissors, first to 100 points. If both players have an equal chance of winning a neutral game and win 1 point for each win, then we should expect the players to trade wins.
Scenario 2: One player has a significant punish game while the other has a normal punish game.
Let’s toss in a variable now and say that player “A” gets “10” points every time he wins while the other player “B” still gets “1” point every time he wins. Even if they trade off on winning rock-paper-scissors, player “B” will on average reach 10 points when player “A” reaches “100” points.
I use this example to make this point. The better your punishment game is, the less you have to win in the neutral game to take the set. A better punishment game also allows for you to build leads and pull ahead in games. If your opponent only does 15-20% per opening, it will take them 5-9 openings to get a kill. Whereas a player such as Mew2King or Armada can take 4 lives in as low as 4-8 openings! When you play a great player, the number of good openings that you get on your opponent is really small. You have to make the most out of each opportunity if you want to be at the top.
A Practical Way to Improve
To piggy-back off of Dr. PeePee, record videos of yourself and get the following:
1.) How much damage you get per opening?
2.) Why does your punish stop?
3.) How can you continue your combo or leave your opponent in a disadvantageous position??
4.) Are you giving up stage position and momentum when you end a punish?
Watch yourself and brainstorm how you can position yourself to continue a punishment.
MIOM | Tafokints
The general explanation is good, but there’s some nuance is missing (and the ‘game theory’ is embarrassing by UChi standards).
Punishment game/state can be hard punish or soft punish (and I don’t mean the degree of the punish). Hard punishes are unavoidable, true combos or guaranteed follow-ups; e.g. throw combos, Falco shine/Utilt combos, Shiek Ftilt-Fair, etc. Soft punishes are when your opponent’s options are limited, often with no offensive option at all, and the punishment comes from a good read or proper reactions. e.g. tech chasing, edgeguards, juggling floaties, poor DI combos.
The distinction is important in figuring out where your punishment game is lacking. When you drop hard punishes, it is because of technical imprecision or improper assessment of the situation (e.g. dropped chaingrabs). When you drop soft punishes, it is because of poor patience or reactions or anticipation.
Moreover, different characters have different emphasis on soft/hard punishes. Characters like Falco, Marth, Peach, Ness have a lot of hard punishes (supposedly guaranteed combos). Fox, Samus, Ganon, Link have a lot of soft punishes (tech chases, reads, baits, punishing poor spacing by the opponent). Try to figure out what kind of punish game you are strong at or can improve at to try and optimize your style!
As a game theory note, these game states are indicative of how many options your opponent has available. Neutral, soft punish, and hard punish range from your opponent having all options, some options, and zero options available to them, respectively. A huge part of reading your opponent is knowing what options they have available, so always try to be in your opponent’s mind!
not a great use of game theory, but a solid article