Being stuck at home has made the last couple of months the perfect time for catching up on all the gaming you’ve been meaning to get to. Sure, you have to deal with the knowledge that there’s an ever-present risk to your and your loved ones’ health, but at least you can distract yourself by dedicating your every waking moment to Super Smash Bros. The real problem you’ll be facing won’t be the deadly global pandemic, but rather how you’re going to maintain your new Smash schedule once life gets back to normal. But with this easy guide, you’ll be able to maintain an organized schedule that will let you keep up with all your new gaming responsibilities, even when you have to deal with all of the unimportant things in life again.
If a game becomes part of your routine, then making a routine part of the game will be your best bet for keeping up the habit. Even those with the busiest of schedules can get bountiful play sessions in by proactively setting time aside for individual goals. For example, if you’re one of the many people currently practicing to be your region’s best Min-Min player, you may consider setting a few minutes aside at different parts of the day to grind all the experience you need to make it out of pools once your locals start up again. You could practice your combos before heading for work, study top player footage or learn character matchups over your break and then sneak in some quick practice matches with your friends online before bed.
Speaking of friends, if your playing habits involve any, you can also use them as a great scheduling tool. They’ll no doubt share your predicament and be looking for ways to maximize their playtime just like you. So, the logical solution is to kill two birds with one stone and dedicate shared openings in your schedules to spend together with Smash. All you need to do is find a few minutes, or hours, each day or week that you and your friends can collectively set aside to all play together. That way, you’ll maximize your multiplayer fun while still having enough time to deal with your commitments outside the game. Just because you can’t spend as much time with Smash when you’re no longer in isolation, doesn’t mean you can’t have just as much fun.
If all else fails, prioritize. Everyone’s situation will be affected differently by the shift from lockdown to reopening, and many will inevitably have to drop some of the games they may have previously been playing religiously. If you’re one of these people, then the best thing you can do for yourself is figure out how much time you want to spend with the Smash games of your choice. This is the hardest recommendation to give actual advice for, though, since the best solution will vary from person to person. Some of you will probably be much happier putting Ultimate down to focus on improving your Melee tech or finally giving Rivals of Aether a try, but others who’ve been anticipating the chance to get back to raising hell in tournaments with their favorite doubles partner will likely be much happier focusing their time on that. If there’s one thing you should take away from all this, it’s that the key to making this compromise work is finding out how to make it fit your needs. Of course, this is all for if and when your area becomes safe from significant risks of infection so that you and the other members of your local scene can enjoy your time together in a healthy setting. Having fun should never come at the cost of staying safe.
