SmashBox basics, an Introduction, Part 1.
Whether you’re a curious long time Smash veteran or a fighting game enthusiast looking to jump into Smash, you may wish to learn the very basics of how the SmashBox controller works, as it is a fairly brand new alternative to the over 15 years old GameCube Controller (or GCC) standard.
“SmashBox basics” will be a series of blog posts here where I wish to share both the knowledge I acquire as a new SmashBox player as well as my advice towards any new SmashBox player looking for directions on how to learn to play with this controller.
Please note that beyond the very basics, I will be using Project M as the game of choice to explain concepts with since it is the game I compete and TO for.
However, a lot of techniques will still apply to all other Smash titles, specially if you’re looking to jump into Melee.
If you’ve previously never played any Smash games competitively and have only played Traditional Fighting Games, you may find an easier time learning how the controller works, as it works like any other arcade stick.
However, you’ll face the scary prospect of learning how and where to apply all the techniques and the fluency that comes with the natural knowledge of the game.
I‘d like to dedicate this section to briefly introduce any Traditional Fighting Game players to the Smash system and information archive.
All information you will find on the internet on Smash will feature the Smash notation.
You will have to learn this notation and while it will still apply to the SmashBox, keep in mind that it will most of the time be based on performing the motions on a GCC and explain only how to perform it there.
Translating this input to SmashBox inputs is easier if you’re already familiarized with the GCC, however, learning this skill is just a matter of time if you are not.
Smash is based on a directional system unlike most TFGs, most moves are performed with a combination of a direction and a button, and all follow a similar notation, for example, in the air, you are able to perform:
· Nair (Neutral Air) Input: Attack while holding no direction.
· Fair (Forward Air) Input: Attack while holding the direction you’re facing.
· Bair (Back Air) Input: Attack while holding the opposite direction you’re facing.
· Uair (Up Air) Input: Attack while holding up.
· Dair (Down Air) Input: Attack while holding down.
As well as B moves, also known as specials, like:
· Neutral B. Input: Special while holding no direction.
· Side B. Input: Special while holding left or right.
· Up B. Input: Special while holding up.
· Down B. Input: Special while holding down.
And so on.
The terms will change depending on your position (air or grounded) and on your directional input (if hit quickly or Smash, or input slowly or slightly tilted), but basically, all attacks in Smash are command normals.
However, unlike in most TFGs, the game is not based on an octagonal gate, but in a circle one in fact.
This means that instead of the 8 usual directional inputs, you’ll be looking at hundreds of different angles you can input.
It is not, however, as scary as that sounds.
Before coming back to that topic, I’d like to instead introduce you to the SmashBox layout.
As you can see, it consists of 23 buttons, of which most of the time 4 will be bound to the 4 cardinal directions, at least 4 to angle modifiers, and the rest may input other GCC buttons or functions.
Designing your button layout is a very important part of planning your SmashBox practice and you can do it with the designer tool you can download from the SmashBox section of the Hitbox blog.
For example, the default button layout looks someting like this.
Unlike in PM and Smash 4, in Melee you can’t remap your buttons in-game, which means that you must bind certain buttons to certain GCC buttons like so:
Attack - A
Special - B
Grab - Z
Shield - L or R
Jump - X or Y
X1, X2, Y1 and Y2 are the angle modifiers, I will explain them in the next chapter, but for now, you should leave them as they are.
However, in the default button, the grab command is put near the C-Stick buttons because that way you can input all aerial attacks with independent buttons.
C-Stick Up will always give you Uair, C-Stick Down will always give you Dair and so on.
With most characters, Z will give you a neutral air as long as you don’t hold any directions in the air.
However, for characters with a tether, the tether command is Grab in the air.
Therefore, you won’t be able to do Nair with that button.
Mapping Attack to that button can solve that issue, but then you have to choose where to place Grab on the controller.
Keeping in mind that the essential Project M and Melee technique, Jump Cancel Grab, requires you to press Jump and Grab in very quick succession, you may begin to see why where you place it is important.
If you were to replace one of the Jump buttons with Grab, you’d have to go from one of the rows to the other very quickly with the same finger, which is harder and will make your wrist and fingers make unhealthy movements.
Your goal is to make a layout that will allow you to perform all the techniques you’ll be using with the least amount of effort possible.
As I play a tether character, and I also prefer to use mostly the top row instead of the bottom one (basically where shield and jump are define the most used row), I changed the default layout to fit my needs.
Now I perform Jump Cancel Grab by jumping with my middle finger and grabbing with my ring finger without problem.
I also mapped the Project M exclusive Footstool input to one of the previous Jump buttons.
This will wrap up Part 1 of the Introduction to the SmashBox, I will cover the way SmashBox analog stick inputs as well as the use of the modifiers on the next chapter.
Thank you for reading this far!
