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Make sure to watch this awesome documentary about SSBM: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoUHkRwnRH-KTCH3tJ9WvsWWPEgUu-y6d https://www.youtube.com/playlis

by NanoWar 12y ago

Make sure to watch this awesome documentary about SSBM: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoUHkRwnRH-KTCH3tJ9WvsWWPEgUu-y6d https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoUHkRwnRH-KTCH3tJ9Wv... (Beware, it's 4 hours long in total, hehe)

Mithaldu 12y ago
I wanted to like this, but it's 99% fluff and very weak to watch, even outright boring. Maybe it's because i simply don't know the game, but right from the bat they expect the watcher to know the best players, and how the game works. Just throwing out names and techniques without explaining anything, while describing the completely typical 90s/00s mobile gaming nerd scene, which is identical to lan parties, demoscene parties, CCC clubs and what have you. Secondly they show plenty of game footage, but it's like they made sure that it's a meaningless jumble by doing jumpcuts in amounts, frequency and rapidity that would make modern hollywood movies envious; and also exclusively using footage that's visually flawed in being either: out-of-focus, thumbnail resolution, sub-10 fps, shaky-cam, composed of fist-sized compression artifacts, overexposed or (something common to almost ALL the clips) presented entirely without comment or explanation. Mind, so far i've seen 1 and a half videos of theirs and peeked into the third to see if it gets any better, but it really looks like this documentary doesn't say anything about the game, and is entirely a documentary about the social and competitive scene and the people in it.
- CocaKoala 12y ago
  Three minutes in to the first video: "This is about the seven greatest players who, in their time, ruled the world". So yeah, it seems like it's about the players and the community. edit: The first video has so far gone over wave dashing and l-canceling, so it seems like it actually goes over some mechanical details of the game as well. I'm not really sure what you were expecting?
  - Mithaldu 12y ago
    Two things: Directly before that sentence the voice says "This is about a game that was never designed to be played competitively." However it's really not been about the game at all. Secondly, i was directly addressing OP's description of this series as "this awesome documentary about SSBM", which is (not intentionally, but nevertheless) far from what the documentary is actually about. > The first video has so far gone over wave dashing and l-canceling It mentioned them. I still have no idea what wave dashing is at all, since they never explain it beyond "you press a lot of keys really quickly, like in starcraft". And l-canceling has a comparison, but it's shown extremely quickly, with little explanation fo what is being shown, and the meaning of the "l" is never explained. Heck, the only reason i know what canceling means is that i played godhand. > what you were expecting? Interesting stuff about the gameplay itself, the techniques used. What's the normal gameplay, how does competitive differ, what breakthroughs have been made, how and why do competitive techniques work. I really wasn't expecting "yes this guy drove like a thousand miles to play a game and win 200$" to be drawn out over many minutes. Not to discount the achievement, but i've heard tens of such stories before. Edit: Also gameplay footage which has more meaning than any of the trailers to the new transformers movies.
    - CocaKoala 12y ago
      I thought the explanation of wave dashing was pretty clear: you jump, and then immediately cancel that jump into a downwards dodge; this makes you slide across the floor. The video explains that in basically those words, and pretty clearly shows that you can wave dash faster than you can run, which gives you greater mobility. L-canceling was pretty clearly shown to be a technique that cancels the recovery of the move; this is shown by not only the side-by-side comparison, but also the players who literally say "He knew about l-cancelling before us, so he was able to do moves, like, you know, l-cancel his moves to stop the delay on moves before us". They don't explain why it's called "l-cancelling", but that's not going to add more information to the explanation of the utility. It's a documentary, not a tutorial.
      - Mithaldu 12y ago
        > pretty clearly shows that you can wave dash faster than you can run, which gives you greater mobility. If they did show that then they showed it without even pointing it out. I do remember them saying something about a jump and a slide, but that part was very fast, and even after looking at that bit again i can't see where they show the comparison to normal running. > this is shown by not only the side-by-side comparison Again, only shown for an extremely short time. By the time i figure out which one was showing the L-cancel they were done with it already. > They don't explain why it's called "l-cancelling", but that's not going to add more information to the explanation of the utility. You think that. I do not. > It's a documentary, not a tutorial. There can also be a middle ground. This documentary utterly aims at one extreme though. --- More importantly note that these two things, and the explanation of the percentage, are the only times they actually bother to explain anything about the game in the first two episodes.
- unclesaamm 12y ago
  In contrast to the other response to this, I loved this documentary, and watched it in two sittings straight. I grew up playing this game, though, and watching it was a fond reminder of a culture that I always felt surrounded by. It's more nostalgic than hard-hitting, so you might not get as much out of it if you don't have any ties to melee or people who love it.

by NanoWar 12y ago

Mithaldu 12y ago

I wanted to like this, but it's 99% fluff and very weak to watch, even outright boring. Maybe it's because i simply don't know the game, but right from the bat they expect the watcher to know the best players, and how the game works. Just throwing out names and techniques without explaining anything, while describing the completely typical 90s/00s mobile gaming nerd scene, which is identical to lan parties, demoscene parties, CCC clubs and what have you. Secondly they show plenty of game footage, but it's like they made sure that it's a meaningless jumble by doing jumpcuts in amounts, frequency and rapidity that would make modern hollywood movies envious; and also exclusively using footage that's visually flawed in being either: out-of-focus, thumbnail resolution, sub-10 fps, shaky-cam, composed of fist-sized compression artifacts, overexposed or (something common to almost ALL the clips) presented entirely without comment or explanation. Mind, so far i've seen 1 and a half videos of theirs and peeked into the third to see if it gets any better, but it really looks like this documentary doesn't say anything about the game, and is entirely a documentary about the social and competitive scene and the people in it.

CocaKoala 12y ago
Three minutes in to the first video: "This is about the seven greatest players who, in their time, ruled the world". So yeah, it seems like it's about the players and the community. edit: The first video has so far gone over wave dashing and l-canceling, so it seems like it actually goes over some mechanical details of the game as well. I'm not really sure what you were expecting?
- Mithaldu 12y ago
  Two things: Directly before that sentence the voice says "This is about a game that was never designed to be played competitively." However it's really not been about the game at all. Secondly, i was directly addressing OP's description of this series as "this awesome documentary about SSBM", which is (not intentionally, but nevertheless) far from what the documentary is actually about. > The first video has so far gone over wave dashing and l-canceling It mentioned them. I still have no idea what wave dashing is at all, since they never explain it beyond "you press a lot of keys really quickly, like in starcraft". And l-canceling has a comparison, but it's shown extremely quickly, with little explanation fo what is being shown, and the meaning of the "l" is never explained. Heck, the only reason i know what canceling means is that i played godhand. > what you were expecting? Interesting stuff about the gameplay itself, the techniques used. What's the normal gameplay, how does competitive differ, what breakthroughs have been made, how and why do competitive techniques work. I really wasn't expecting "yes this guy drove like a thousand miles to play a game and win 200$" to be drawn out over many minutes. Not to discount the achievement, but i've heard tens of such stories before. Edit: Also gameplay footage which has more meaning than any of the trailers to the new transformers movies.
  - CocaKoala 12y ago
    I thought the explanation of wave dashing was pretty clear: you jump, and then immediately cancel that jump into a downwards dodge; this makes you slide across the floor. The video explains that in basically those words, and pretty clearly shows that you can wave dash faster than you can run, which gives you greater mobility. L-canceling was pretty clearly shown to be a technique that cancels the recovery of the move; this is shown by not only the side-by-side comparison, but also the players who literally say "He knew about l-cancelling before us, so he was able to do moves, like, you know, l-cancel his moves to stop the delay on moves before us". They don't explain why it's called "l-cancelling", but that's not going to add more information to the explanation of the utility. It's a documentary, not a tutorial.
    - Mithaldu 12y ago
      > pretty clearly shows that you can wave dash faster than you can run, which gives you greater mobility. If they did show that then they showed it without even pointing it out. I do remember them saying something about a jump and a slide, but that part was very fast, and even after looking at that bit again i can't see where they show the comparison to normal running. > this is shown by not only the side-by-side comparison Again, only shown for an extremely short time. By the time i figure out which one was showing the L-cancel they were done with it already. > They don't explain why it's called "l-cancelling", but that's not going to add more information to the explanation of the utility. You think that. I do not. > It's a documentary, not a tutorial. There can also be a middle ground. This documentary utterly aims at one extreme though. --- More importantly note that these two things, and the explanation of the percentage, are the only times they actually bother to explain anything about the game in the first two episodes.
unclesaamm 12y ago
In contrast to the other response to this, I loved this documentary, and watched it in two sittings straight. I grew up playing this game, though, and watching it was a fond reminder of a culture that I always felt surrounded by. It's more nostalgic than hard-hitting, so you might not get as much out of it if you don't have any ties to melee or people who love it.