Level Up in Smash Faster With Sidequests
by Thomas Gallanti (soma)
You enter bracket, you play your sets, you review what went wrong, and then… repeat. Sometimes you level up quickly. Sometimes it feels like you’re stuck fighting the same enemies for hours wondering when the XP bar is finally going to move.
When that happens in RPGs, the first thing I do? Sidequests. I recently picked up this idea from a great video by elijmin (linked here — highly recommend it for players of all skill levels). The concept immediately clicked for me, and honestly, it’s made practicing Smash way more engaging.
In Smash, think of these as secondary missions or achievements you’re setting for yourself during your regular practice. It’s not just improving and getting a higher placement than last time you entered - rather, something more personal and specific to your weaknesses. For example, maybe you realize you have a bad habit of jumping automatically whenever you get hit (I sure did, as pointed out by the GOAT Amaryllis during a friendlies session). Instead of just entering bracket the next week with a goal to “play the best I could”or “land combos more consistently”, I added some side quests to my agenda: successfully and intentionally prevent jumping in disadvantage repeatedly, mixing up my air time. My first side quest was to this during friendlies that day, the second one was during bracket.
You may have something in mind more broad than this, even - something like trusting that secondary you’ve been working on and use them in bracket. Or maybe, work on actively condition your opponent to sit in their shield. These can be as abstract or as obtuse as you’d like, it’s up to you! But I highly implore you to give this a shot. I was able to take some sets that I otherwise wouldn’t have if I didn’t work on that jumping side quest - and I’ve already got my next few set up!
Since we’re leaning fully into the RPG analogy here, there’s one more thing you should do - save your progress!! Keep track of your side quests somewhere, like your phone’s notes app, a small notebook, or maybe carry around a save point in your pocket. Make sure you detail when you started the side quest, and when you feel you finished it! Checking things off a list feels great, and looking back at your progress will you give you an IRL Psyche Up buff.
So, have any side quests in mind for your next bracket? Maybe for the top players in our scene, it’s trying your hardest not to drop a game in bracket at all. Or maybe, for those like me, it’s fixing that damn jumping habit. Let me know!
