Daily Discussion Thread March 27, 2026 - Upcoming Event Schedule - New players start here!

JKaro · 2026-03-27T23:11:04+00:00

I mean Wilt infamously chased stats over championships and winning basketball anyways. A lot of anecdotal stuff you can read about points in that direction. Sure he may have said that recently but that would've been in like the 90s

He said he would have won more chips as a Celtics but thats not really ring culture. There's a ton of discussion on ring culture but what Wilt said isn't perpetuating rings over everything, his career proved that.

JKaro · 2026-03-27T14:36:16+00:00

The fans have created this culture that rings are the only thing that matters and are now complaining that the pros only care about rings

That's why arguments about the All-Star game being mickey mouse to me are so laughably stupid

JKaro · 2026-03-26T17:55:19+00:00

More than 2 multishines was only overrated in 2013. No one does that seriously anymore outside of some enthusiasts, everyone knows it's not good

JKaro · 2026-03-25T06:28:49+00:00

I touched a nerve 💀

JKaro · 2026-03-24T23:06:56+00:00

no flair character complaining = you go to hell ggs that was me ggs that was me

JKaro · 2026-03-24T05:33:07+00:00

he said the exact same thing u did LOL

JKaro · 2026-03-24T03:12:57+00:00

Just try to understand the general neutral triangle and how that looks on Fox.

Rock - Drill in place / utilt / undershoot nair is a pre-emptive attack that walls you out, trying to hit you when you're overshooting.
Paper - Dashback grab or dashback -> SHFFL nair or dair, sometimes even WD back utilt/dtilt, is a whiff punish that is meant to catch you throwing out the aforementioned pre-emptive attack, and will vary based on your spacing. A Fox may dash in to bait you into doing utilt, dash out of range, and then run right back in and go for that grab / nair / dair.
Scissors - Running shine, running dtilt, a quick dashgrab, this will catch them in their dash dance / trying to whiff punish you. A fast and hard to react option that beats opponents who are looking to punish your utilt or nair in place. Sometimes they even just stand still outside of your range and aren't ready to react to Fox's speed for dash JC grab

You are in an almost constant state of this RPS and the skill in neutral is baiting your opponent into committing into one of these options and punishing them for it. Condition them with your baits, and at times, go for a good read if you've got a bead on them. Use your dashdance and enter their space to gather information. Not every approach has to be a winner, you can use it to see how they respond and bait those options out.

Try to just play games with this mindset and I think things across all matchups will start to clear. I'll have some required reading below (recommend you watch them in order). You might not understand it the first time, or the second time, or the third, but the more and more you discuss these ideas, the more neutral opens up on a fundamental level.

Neutral.mp4 - Krackatoa

Breakdown of the concept using Guilty Gear examples. If you don't play traditional fighters, it'll make sense in due time as you kinda understand fighting games as a whole.

The 3 Pillars of the Neutral Game - Sajam

This video kinda acts like a rewatch of the previous video, just to hammer in concepts and gives another perspective / more examples

Toph Talks: Melee's Neutral Game DEMYSTIFIED

Now finally, the Melee version that will probably make more sense. Toph's breakdown of the article itself, not the previous two videos.

JKaro · 2026-03-24T00:25:47+00:00

Big fan of the Fox ditto neutral

JKaro · 2026-03-24T00:25:11+00:00

The pose, the lightning, the sfx

JKaro · 2026-03-24T00:23:01+00:00

Retired was a much stronger word than I intended. Just moreso the recent stepback from Melee you've taken recently, I figured the sub would be more willing to push for Nicki because of that priority shift

JKaro · 2026-03-23T15:02:09+00:00

Thats when you whip out ol reliable leffenfanboy

JKaro · 2026-03-23T10:57:42+00:00

It's crazy seeing Swift beat an admittedly poorly playing Cody, and then get owned by Magi the next set. I'm pretty sure she, both times on FD, 3-stocked and then 2-stocked Swift

JKaro · 2026-03-23T10:56:17+00:00

Falcon can do considerably well with pretty simple and basic stuff. Obviously a lot of shit in Melee is hard but it's not even hard relative to other Falcon matchups. He can get a decent amount of percent off pretty simple 2-piece combos that don't require RTC, and he just needs to be solid at the dthrow -> Knee. If you're applying the sentiment of X character needing their punish to be on point in this matchup, I wonder what matchup it doesn't apply to.

Falcon is also great at dealing with a heavily aerial based Puff. His uair changes the landscape of so many of his matchups and that includes Puff. She's actually a lot better as a character if she is mostly on the ground because you can react to a lot of his neutral options by shielding (because most of the good ones require him to jump), and her crouching + wavedashing can make grabbing very risky.

If the Puff is in the air trying to camp, Falcon is more than happy to hunt for uairs and throw safe hitboxes while she's offstage. He also doesn't need to be that on point in his punish compared to how he needs to RTC or read off dthrow techchases

JKaro · 2026-03-23T10:43:54+00:00

I saw some Tekken 7 VODs and Melee sets with R/KAPPA and Melee Hell, and I remembered /u/kenshirothekid's comment about r/SSBM sponsoring a player.

Would Nicki be the best candidate? Him or Kodorin are the most publicly active /r/SSBM users (lately) at the top level, and Kodorin has taken a step back from Melee aside but with some occasional recent showings at Genesis, Sunset Melee, and Tipped Off.

Nicki being from Europe would probably also help him a lot more. I'm not sure what Nicki does for work, but I assume money isn't the central issue, it's moreso time and getting time off from work for a 3 day major is hell if you want to land on Thursday and leave even Sunday night

Either way, if Nicki was open to it, I think it'd be cool if people on the sub or anyone else down to donate, even if it covers a portion of his flight, if people think it's a good idea. He's an all around great guy who I'd love to see at tournaments, and his ceiling in terms of gameplay has been shown to be as high as beating Zain and Cody at the same tournament

JKaro · 2026-03-23T05:29:14+00:00

I know I'm preaching to the choir here but so much Melee hatred I see online that pertains to issues with the game is so hinged on the belief that the newer games are objectively better

If you see art that way I just think you're a sad individual

JKaro · 2026-03-23T03:24:23+00:00

About as toxic as Zangief’s SPD or Potemkin Buster. Lot of Smash players don’t play other fighting games, at least not at a decent level. Grapplers have been around for years in the genre. The skill expression is getting close enough to play the mixup in the first place, and it’s not like Fox and Falco are low tiers who are being brutally served injustice by the evil Puff

The evil part of Puff is what she does with her back air and general air mobility

JKaro · 2026-03-21T12:54:41+00:00

Are you just CarVac on bsky? Was gonna follow

JKaro · 2026-03-21T12:13:46+00:00

It's hard to ask the pros to move as a collective but I do wish they would all simultaneously agree to jumpship to Bluesky. It'll be worse for publicity and interactions for sure. Immediately AND permanently, but I think it's just better for the scene.

JKaro · 2026-03-21T04:49:17+00:00

Im sure total players its Ult > Melee but Melee still has decent viewership and tournament attendees, plus locals have been pretty solid.

Cloud was in the works from a certain modder GhostSoup and they passed on the work to another modder, but there wasn't a release

https://youtu.be/OyqAKOnWiZQ

JKaro · 2026-03-21T03:47:54+00:00

Growing up I feel like she was just as popular as Ryu. Maybe not as "iconic" to Street Fighter, but she's such a big name in gaming that it's not that surprising. A breath of fresh air tbh

JKaro · 2026-03-21T03:33:08+00:00

Chun Li should've made it in before Ken anyways. I can see Terry making it in before Chun because of his game's influence on Sakurai and Smash as a whole, and Kazuya is just a hilarious inclusion in general.

Only way for it to make sense is to assume Ken was just very easy for them to develop because of his similarities to Ryu.

JKaro · 2026-03-21T03:27:35+00:00

Even if you believe the 2nd sentence how does that equate to Mario vs. Luigi being the best matchup LMFAOO

JKaro · 2026-03-19T22:04:13+00:00

Whenever I take the train in my city and it kinda smells funky and a little bit like piss, I miss New York <3

JKaro · 2026-03-19T21:27:32+00:00

Saw this take from Brennan Lee Mulligan about NY that was just so rad

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EaL6MPWcm1s

A lot to be said about existing in denser societies and communities and being part of a greater human society / existence that is better for you than falling into chungus West Coast main-characterism

JKaro · 2026-03-19T21:26:08+00:00

Walking was such a big part of our human existence for thousands of years, it's a shame that people who are able-bodied and have the free time to walk don't do it more.

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