Technical skill
- "Tech skill" redirects here. For the maneuver, see Tech.
Technical skill, also referred to as just tech skill, is one's ability to manipulate a controller and produce their desired inputs. Players with greater technical skill are able to more reliably produce their intended inputs, and more efficiently perform maneuvers that require more complicated inputs (such as advanced techniques). Players with lesser technical skill are more prone to input mistakes, and are less able to utilise complicated maneuvers; such players tend to rely on superior cerebral play (such as utilising mindgames) to overcome their technical shortcomings. Technical skill is just one of the many skills required to excel at Smash; technical skill alone will not bring a player much success. However, it is common for inexperienced players to overrate the value of technical skill, and in some extreme cases, see it as the only "true" skill, completely neglecting the importance of other skills despite players often losing to others with less technical skill.
Technical skill in relation to characters[edit]
The amount of technical skill necessary to be successful in competitive play is largely dependent on the characters a player uses. Some characters require greater precision, faster fingers, and have a greater reliance on advanced techs, and as such, will demand a greater amount of technical skill to play successfully at a high level of play. In Melee, the prime examples of such characters are Fox and Falco, both of which demand an incredible amount of technical skill to play at even lower levels of competitive play, each relying on incredibly quick movement and heavy utilization of their Shine combos. In Brawl, the prime examples would be the Ice Climbers, who rely on desynching and chain throws that demand precise timing, and Diddy Kong, who relies on heavy utilization of his banana combos and locks. In SSB4, Rosalina & Luma uses desynching much like the Ice Climbers in previous games, and Ryu relies on chaining unusual button inputs into intricate combos. Ultimate's Peach (alongside her Echo Fighter, Daisy) relies extensively on technically demanding but dangerous and rewarding combos involving her floating ability (and sometimes also her Vegetable item projectiles as well), and the Ice Climbers rely heavily on desyncing like in past titles.
On the other end, some characters also have a lower technical demand, as they rely on more cerebral play with less utilization of advanced techs and less frequent inputs. In Melee, such examples would be Jigglypuff, who instead has a reliance on aerial pressure and spacing as well as its wall of pain, and Marth, who relies on spacing with his superior reach and utilizing his less complicated but deadly combos, such as the infamous Ken combo. In Brawl, Marth is again a prominent example of a character with less technical demands for similar reason as in Melee, and Meta Knight is a particularly noteworthy example as well, as he tends to rely on overwhelming opponents with his incredibly quick and superior moveset, without much utilization of complicated advanced techs; Meta Knight's particular ease-of-use for a character on the top of the tier list was a frequently cited point for the subsequent banning of the character. In SSB4, Captain Falcon is an example of a character with low technical demands, as he relies largely on uncomplicated combos (typically initiated from a dash grab) and occasional punishes. Diddy Kong was an example prior to his nerfs in version 1.0.6, as his metagame almost entirely revolved around his various throw combos, which were easy to learn and initiate. Ultimate has Lucina, who relies on spacing not unlike the aforementioned Melee iteration of Marth, while also being able to utilize her speed to somewhat overwhelm her opponent as well. Palutena is also a good example, as she relies on spacing and being able to easily overwhelm her foes with her overall speed and straightforward moveset, and has easy-to-perform yet devastating combos involving her neutral aerial.
Technical skill requirements by game[edit]
Super Smash Bros.[edit]
The overall technical level of the original Super Smash Bros. is generally considered to be lower than that of Melee, due to the fewer amount of mechanics available (in particular the lack of the air dodge), as well the game's lower falling speeds, and very high levels of hitstun (and lack of DI) making extensive combos less mechanically demanding to perform. However, numerous advanced techniques were introduced in Smash 64 that became staples of the series, including jump canceling, shield dropping, ledgestalling and pivoting. The game also has its own unique mechanics such as the jab grab; the near-complete negation of landing lag produced by Z-canceling additionally results in enhanced attack speeds and the usage of advanced shield pressure and shield break combos, which are rarely seen in other Smash games to a similar extent.[1]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]
Melee is regarded as having the highest technical skill ceiling of all Smash games. The introduction of a significant number of new mechanics and advanced movement techniques, along with the game's general lack of an input buffering system, have made Melee notorious for the high technical skill demands required to play at the competitive level.
Among Melee's most significant changes was the introduction of the directional air dodge, which forms the basis of wavelanding and wavedashing, two of the game's core movement mechanics. The game's decreased but still significant levels of hitstun, generally increased gravity and falling speeds, and the introduction of directional influence have resulted in faster-paced gameplay, along with combos that, while often extensive, are more difficult to execute than in Smash 64.
As a result, a multitude of advanced techniques, including ledgedashing, ledgestalling, shield dropping, edge canceling, jump canceling, ASDI, and slideoffs, have become ubiquitous throughout competitive Melee, along with more character-specific techniques, such as boost grabbing, pivoting, moonwalking, and perhaps most infamously, waveshining and multishining. Many of these techniques (as well as performing or escaping certain combos such as chain grabs), require sequences of multiple extremely precise, often frame perfect inputs, due to the lack of buffering. In addition, some techniques, such as the aforementioned ledgedashing and ledgestalling, can result in the loss of a stock if done incorrectly. In many cases, the optimized versions of these techniques cannot be consistently performed by human input, and are only done at the TAS level.
Melee's complex movement, fast pace, and advanced techniques have become well-known throughout the Smash series; Melee players and spectators often cite these factors as a main reason for their interest in the game.[2][3] Uniquely among the series, Melee has retained by far the most active competitive scene following the release of its successor titles, despite its reliance on old CRT hardware and smaller character roster compared to the newer Smash games.
Melee's high technical ceiling has resulted in its own challenges, however. The extremely precise inputs of the game, combined with the inconsistent fabrication process of GameCube controllers, results in discrepancies in controller performance that render most standard controllers unviable for competitive play. As such, the majority of top players use controllers with extensive modifications (including notches and tactile buttons), often along with custom-designed motherboards (such Goomwave and Phob) optimized for competitive play. While software modifications such as Universal Controller Fix have attempted to address some of these issues of controller precision, obtaining a competitively viable controller is still generally expensive and creates an additional barrier of entry to the game's already high learning curve.
The game's high technical ceiling has resulted in numerous cases of hand pain (which are much rarer in other Smash titles) due to extensive ergonomic wear on the joints in the fingers, palms, and wrists. These issues are often exacerbated by the abnormal grips required to perform multishining and other techniques at the competitive level, along with the game's lack of custom button mapping. This has resulted in the introduction of box controllers with fully analog inputs, which are designed to ease wear on the hands; however, these controllers have become highly controversial within the Melee community, with some advocating for their banning due to claims of the controller producing an unfair input advantage for the user.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
The transition from Melee to Brawl represented a significant change in the overall technical skill level of the game that has remained throughout the rest of the series to the present.
From the transition of Melee to Brawl, the game's physics engine was made much slower. Characters have universally lower falling speeds; the simplification of the air dodge resulted in the removal of wavelanding and wavedashing, the techniques that had defined Melee's competitive scene; other more complex techniques, such as L-canceling and ledgestalling, were removed; and Brawl added the ability to air dodge or use an aerial out of hitstun, lowering the number of true combos that can be performed. These changes were driven as part of Masahiro Sakurai's goals to gear the Smash Bros. series towards a more casual audience; Sakurai stated in an interview that he wanted to make the new game "easier to play".[4]
This drastic change in gameplay has been met with mixed reception across the Smash community; as Brawl developed its own competitive scene, the majority of active Melee players continued to stick to the older title, preferring its faster and more technical gameplay. The game's slower place and lack of combos has resulted in less focus on punish, and more heavy focus around the neutral game, as more neutral interactions are required to build up enough percentage to land KOs. Supporters of Melee have criticized Brawl (and by extent its successor titles, whose game physics are much more similar to that of Brawl), arguing that due to the lack of widespread and universal advanced mobility options, the game lacks depth in player interactions and is less competitive as a result. Supporters of Brawl argue in favor of the game's lower skill floor, resulting in a lower barrier to entry; they also claim that Brawl emphasizes the ability to outread the opponent, which they view as a more aspect of Smash, and allows and less technical and precise players to compete where they otherwise could not in Melee.
Brawl does have its own share of advanced techniques, however. While not as universal and prevalent as the movement techniques of Melee, most characters have access to their own unique mechanics, including glide tossing, DACUS, and BDACUS, while platform canceling is a universal technique that can be performed on the moving platform in Smashville, Brawl's most common stage in competitive play. Other techniques from Melee, including shield dropping and boost grabbing, remain in Brawl, often with different applications compared to the previous title. While the game's more forgiving buffer system makes some techniques easier to perform, others still require highly precise or frame-perfect execution, such as Sheik's DACUS, Falco's BDACUS, Diddy Kong's Banana Peel infinites, Snake's frame 1 Hand Grenade pull to escape comboes, and Lucas's Zap Jump. Some techniques, including King Dedede's buffered pivot grab chain grab on his down throw, require TAS levels of input precision.
Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]
In Smash 4, the ability to airdodge out of hitstun has been significantly weakened, reinstating the importance of combos. Additionally, as of update 1.1.1, shield-stun has been drastically increased, reducing the relative strength of shields and encouraging more offensive gameplay. The increased hitstun, weaker shields, and several other factors Brawl are often cited as the reasons for Smash 4 being faster and more competitively viable than its predecessor. However, it is debatable whether Smash 4 requires more or less technical skill to play than Brawl. While the game improved the strength of pivoting compared to Brawl, which allows for some more spacing and comboing options, it removed other mobility options such as the DACUS, and previously highly technical characters such as Diddy Kong and Snake were either made much simpler to play or removed from the game. In addition, newly discovered advanced techniques and exploits were often removed from the game in subsequent patches.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
In Ultimate, defensive options have been overall toned down, as dodging and shielding (along with shield grabs) have much more lag, with shields in particular depleting much faster and having less health, making them easier to break. Additionally, every character now has a 3-frame jumpsquat, as well as nearly every aerial in the game having reduced landing lag, allowing characters to access their aerial moves much faster while also being able to connect into them much faster as well. Combos in general are somewhat less prominent as a result of several changes, with many character's staple moves and combos being nerfed to be much less over-centralizing than before and the alteration of knockback making previously established follow ups more difficult to perform (although the increased mobility allows characters to catch up much more easily). Many techniques from Smash 4 are absent, such as short-hopping an aerial or using an up-smash out of shield, have become much easier to perform. One notable technique that was removed was pivoting, which was instead replaced by the ability to perform any move out of a dash. Perhaps most notably, the game introduces a new input buffering system alongside the one introduced in Brawl, by which an action can be buffered by holding down a button or a button combination throughout the duration of another action, allowing inputs to be buffered for up to several seconds. However, there are many technical parts and techniques that have been added, such as the readdition of the Ice Climbers and Snake, as well as certain characters having higher learning curves than in Smash 4 (such as Captain Falcon or Zero Suit Samus) still allow for a difficult to master experience, as well as many characters having their most powerful moves they could rely on being nerfed and their weaker moves being buffed, which, as said before, gives them more depth. In addition to other small changes such as the reduced efficacy of the rage mechanic, 1v1 matches in Ultimate now have a damage multiplier, which further encourages aggressive play between most characters.
The game is generally considered to strike a better balance between the technical demand of Melee and the accessibility of Brawl than Smash 4 did, while being arguably the most favorable in terms of character balance in spite of its large roster. However, competitive Ultimate has been the subject of heavy scrutiny and criticism. In particular, while the new buffer system is generally agreed to allow for greater accessibility, as well as make online play more consistent, it has attracted criticism for introducing "input lag", as well as making it much easier to input wrong commands into the game. The game's movement options, or sometimes lack thereof, also receive hefty criticism as many players feel they are too limiting and there were too many unnecessary takeaways from past entries, similar to criticisms against Smash 4 for removing advanced techniques that were in Brawl. Newly discovered advanced techniques and exploits were often patched from the game, continuing a trend from Smash 4.
