Have lots of friends? Dominate the tourney!
With the popularity of Smash Brothers Melee, you're bound to find several local tournaments in your area. This section is designed to help you do your absolute best in these tournaments. If you're a seasoned tournament veteran, you can probably skip this section, but for those of you that lack tournament experience, this should help you out.
Confidence
One of the keys to doing well in anything is to have confidence. You've more than likely played Smash Brothers Melee a great deal to consider yourself able to win a tournament. By reading this guide and playing the game, you have probably learned a lot about how to win. Not everyone has the internet, or the time to play the game on a regular basis. This limits your opponents overall knowledge of the game. Go into the tournament with the attitude that you can win. However, don't get a big head. Overconfidence can be a bad thing, and possibly cause you to play with less concentration. If you feel you'll massacre your opponents, you may not play as hard as if you think you may lose. Play every game like it was the finals and make sure you play to your fullest. You never know when an opponent might surprise you with their skill.
Regroup
Going into a tournament, you'll probably be nervous. This is normal for players with less tournament experience. Because you are nervous, you may not be playing as well as you could at home, or at a friend's house. About halfway through the match, take a second to regroup. Pause for just a few short seconds after you get KO’d and take a look at where you're at and what your opponents have been doing. Have you been getting a lot of KOs, or dying more than your opponents? Which of your opponents is doing the best? Which is doing the worst? Target the player who seems to have the least amount of skill and add some KOs to your score. Watch who the top player is going after and see if you can't steal a few kills from that person. If you can't steal any kills, watch for that opponent to get high in damage and finish him off as fast as possible. You may even want to notify the other players that this person is racking up kills and will win if something isn't done. By regrouping, you'll get rid of some nervous tension and possibly get yourself back in the game or maintain your lead.
Characters
Although there will be several popular characters (Link, Samus) everyone is different. Someone may love Pokemon and only play as Jigglypuff. They may have also become very skilled with Jigglypuff. Therefore it's a good idea to at least practice with all of the characters. If you have some friends over, play a few multiplayer games with someone other than your normal characters. If you and your friends continually use Samus, Link, DK and Kirby, then you won't know how to defend against any of the other characters. Knowing your opponents attacks, how to avoid them and what to counter with can be the key to winning or losing. Even if you're better than your opponent, playing against a character that you've never used or played against before is just like playing against someone using a new strategy on you. You won't know how to counter their attacks and this could easily cause you to lose several lives.
Pay Attention
Depending on how many people are in the tournament, you'll probably have time to sit and watch the other matches before and after you play. Pay careful attention to how the other people are playing. Watch for weak points and openings. Especially in the players that seem to be winning. These are the people that you'll have to play in order to win the tournament. If at all possible, opt to play last. Everyone will be watching the first game as the tournament would just be starting. But after people have played, they may not be as concerned with watching the other players. You should hopefully be able to catch some people off guard with your strategies.
