To main or not to main

[ANoobsOpinion]

Am I the only person who doesn’t main anybody? Through out each smash brothers games (N64, Melee and Brawl), I never mained any character. I found that if I played one character constantly, I get bored of him/her really fast and switch to someone else. In tournament play I find that I don’t even use the same character through out.

An example will be, In Melee, I would enter 1 tournament and play Fox, Ice Climbers and Mario and the next tournament I enter I would play Marth, Shiek and Peach.

I am opening this topic up to have a debate on whether maining 1 character will put someone at an advantage over someone who does not main anybody. Despite that Tier lists will probably come up a lot in this discussion; let’s try to stick with switching between top tier characters for competitive tournament play and switching between almost anyone when playing just for fun.

I’ll open up this debate with my opinion; I think that someone who doesn’t main anybody will be at a slight disadvantage. The reason I say this is listed below

People Who Main 1 character

Advantage

- They will have that characters physics worked out to a par
- They will know that characters limits and what he/she can and can not do
- They will be able to pull off advanced combos with that character with very little mess up.

Disadvantage

- They will not know any other characters limits 100%
- They might not know what to fully expect from another character when playing him/her in a competitive match
- They will not know as much about the physics of other characters because they don't play them as often
- You become more predictable with just 1 character



People who don’t main any character

Advantage

- They will know the limits of every character quite well
- They will know what each character can and can not do and what to expect in competitive play
- In competitive play, they will be good at selecting counter characters
- They are not as Predictable, switching between characters

Disadvantage

- They will most likely never have a character which they will know his/her physics 100%.
- In competitive play, they might not be able to use the character that they selected to his/her maximum ability.
- When playing a person who mains 1 character constantly, they will most likely not be as good if they select the same character.



Based upon the above arguments, I think that someone who mains 1 character all the time will be at a slight advantage in tournament play. The reason I say this is because they are able to pull off a lot more advanced moves with 1 character while someone who plays with just about anyone, will be able to pull off sub advanced techniques.

After saying this, I think I will be at a disadvantage in tournament competitive play; I always get bored playing the same character constantly. In Melee I knew a lot about being able to pull of nice moves with a lot of characters. But I could never 100% master someone. I tried maining a character but it never works out. I find that since I play every character it makes the game a lot more fun.

Now that Brawl has come out, I am doing it again, every time I jump online or play with my friends; I never play the same character twice. Usually everyone I play online sticks with only 1 character, but I usually win even though I switch between a lot of characters.

Feel Free to add to my list of advantages and disadvantages, if you disagree with something, bring it up, I would like to hear about it.

Edit: making a disadvantage point more clearer.

 

[6footninja]

Personally I main Kirby.
But as for not having a main I don't see anything wrong with that, and I know quite a few people who are just that way.

 

[Steck]

Just because you main someone does not mean you can't try out other characters from time to time (if only to get a better understanding of your competition)

 

[really_calm]

Yeah. Maining a character doesn't mean you don't play against or watch other characters enough to know your competition.

Also being predictable is really an individual thing. I mean, you main more than one character and pick a character and have to play 3 stock with them. During that 3 stock, you have just as much capacity to become predictable as any other person who only mains one character. Having the advantage of switching between characters is nice for the predictability and versatility factor, but that means you should main ...two characters, right?

Personally I never get bored of my main ^^ (DDD is awesome possum!) I'm still searching for my second main if you will.

 

[captainfalconmute]

If you have a main i would presume you would have an advantage over somebody who doesnt, playing with one character constantly would obviously make you a very good player with that character, whereas somebody with no main is just flicking through various different characters, and therefore is not getting used to the different techniques and skills that one character has.

I dont see a point in having a main if you dont play at tournament level. Obviously if you wanna go play in a tournament you dont wanna suck, so your gonna choose one character to main and hopefully get good with that character so that you dont suck in the tournaments. thats understandable, because why would anybody enter a tournament and play just any random character that they dont know how to use properly? Having a main will obviously boost your chances at tournament level.

But for anyone who doesnt play at tournament level, i dont see a point in having a main. Why restrict yourself to playing as just one character if the skill you get from playing as that character isnt going to be put to any use? The game is far more fun if you explore playing with a wide variety of characters, even if you do suck with those characters, its fun to just mess around with them.

Im not a serious player by any means. i dont have a main, i never have and i never will. my favourite character is kirby, but i probably only play as Kirby in about 1 in 15 matches i play. I always switch from character to character with every match i play. its just more fun that way.

*essay over*

 

[AcidJazz]

Hey, nice thread dude... This gets my 5+ vote. I believe maining a char is going to allow you to excel at the game at a higher level, overall. Having an alternate main isn't a bad idea as some characters have serious weakness. If you can find an alternate main (somebody you wont be quite as good at, but still have heavy practice with) that counters the problems your main has, it can help with some matchups.

People Who Main 1 character

Advantage

- They will have that characters physics worked out to a par
- They will know that characters limits and what he/she can and can not do
- They will be able to pull off advanced combos with that character with very little mess up.

Disadvantage

- They will not know a lot about any other characters limits
- They might not know what to fully expect from another character when playing him/her in a competitive match
- They will not know a lot about the physics of other characters.
- You become predictable with just 1 character

I agree with your advantages. Don't forget there are only a limited amount of possibilities in any game. One character vs 35 characters is a lot less possibiliity than 35 characters (or however many you choose) vs 35 characters. Your advanced level will take more playing to achieve. There is a lot of stuff that is similar to characters so it's not linear or anything though.

As far as your disadvantage point, #1... While true, I wont know the limits of other characters, I will know their limits vs my one character and better than you will probably know your multiple characters vs all the others. That's kind of the point I made just above. That's all that really matters, in my opinion.

I disagree with your not knowing physics of other characters. You'll be playing against them, right? That should be enough knowledge to be competitive.

I also disagree with predictability. I think its the opposite actually. Your moveset will become easier to read with multiple characters as you don't have the "physics" down to a T (your #1 point in advantages). Being able to do everything a character can possibly do gives you more options. More options = harder to read.

People who don’t main any character

Advantage

- They will know the limits of every character quite well
- They will know what each character can and can not do and what to expect in competitive play
- In competitive play, they will be good at selecting counter characters
- They are not as Predictable, switching between characters

Disadvantage

- They will most likely never have a character which they will know his/her physics 100%.
- In competitive play, they might not be able to use the character that they selected to his/her maximum ability.
- When playing a person who mains 1 character constantly, they will most likely not be as good if they select the same character.

I tackled these points in my previous statement. To me the #1 reason to play multiple characters is the fact that counter match ups exist. There are people who have problems against other opponents for their moveset. If you're at a disadvantage against one character but can pick another that will give you an advantage, there is a good point for playing multiple characters. Quite frankly, I don't like it above 2 though, although I do like to have fun with other ones from time to time. I main Marth, second ROB. ROB rocks in the long distance air and can live forever.

Personally, I don't find it boring to play one character all the time either. I find it more fun. Most people I play against find it annoying, though



Overall, I say if you want to be top tier player, main one. That's what they do, it works. They usually have an alternate character or two they **** with too, though. I'm not saying don't try out all characters or even try and find out how they work because that knowledge is good, but once you have the overall strength / weakness understanding of every character (just basic knowledge) you can use that to your strength with one character.

Just my 2 cents, tho.

 

[C.Y.]

meh, as of right now, i don't have one "main". i use meta knight, falco, diddy kong, and sheik pretty equally. eventually i'll have my "main" main though.

 

[J0K3R]

It'll be a while before I find my main

 

[Omega Nintendo Dude]

True to that.

I mostly main Fox but I play with others like Mario, Link and many many more.
I still have a slight disadvantage adapting to them fully.

 

[ANoobsOpinion]

From Steck
Just because you main someone does not mean you can't try out other characters from time to time (if only to get a better understanding of your competition)

You’re absolutely right, there is no law that you must stick with your main. However, when you stick with your main, you play countless hours with him/her, learning his/her weaknesses and strengths to a par and get an unbelievably good understanding of how there physics work. It’s always good to try other characters, if you try other characters for a brief time, you will get a moderate understanding of how they work, but not fully explore there maximum potential like how you did with your main.

From really_calm
Yeah. Maining a character doesn't mean you don't play against or watch other characters enough to know your competition.

Of course you will play against other characters, and watch how they develop and work with the competition. But in order to fully understand other characters physics and strengths, you must play the other characters countless hours as much as your main. No one can just play/watch a few matches with 1 character and come out knowing everything about them.

From really_calm
Also being predictable is really an individual thing. I mean, you main more than one character and pick a character and have to play 3 stock with them. During that 3 stock, you have just as much capacity to become predictable as any other person who only mains one character. Having the advantage of switching between characters is nice for the predictability and versatility factor, but that means you should main ...two characters, right?

Good point with the predictability, of course people will be at an individual level, however, I’m talking about in general. If a person who enters a tournament without a main character, will they be slightly less predictable than a person who mains 1 character. Scroll down to the comment AcidJazz made and my reply to him. I also agree that having a second main character as a back up is an excellent idea, but that second main may never be as good as your first.

From captainfalconmute
I dont see a point in having a main if you dont play at tournament level. Obviously if you wanna go play in a tournament you dont wanna suck, so your gonna choose one character to main and hopefully get good with that character so that you dont suck in the tournaments. thats understandable, because why would anybody enter a tournament and play just any random character that they dont know how to use properly? Having a main will obviously boost your chances at tournament level.

When practicing for a tournament, you will always play 1 or maybe 2 characters for countless hours. Even just for fun matches you will most likely pick that character. I know a lot of people who will always pick the same character just for fun matches. When I enter a tournament I usually play with the characters I feel like I’d do best with at the tournament. I won’t just select any random character; I will give it some thought because every character has disadvantages and advantages. I find that I know quite well how to use each character, but I know I wont fully master anyone 100% unless I play that person constantly. Which I find that boring.

From AcidJazz
I disagree with your not knowing physics of other characters. You'll be playing against them, right? That should be enough knowledge to be competitive.

Hey, thanks for the nice post, I enjoyed reading it. You brought up some good counter points.

I will first comment on the above quote, I agree that you will be playing against other characters constantly and I also agree with that you will know the limits of when they play your main character. However, unless you have played that other character constantly as much as your main character you will not know 100% what to expect from there limits. Somebody that does not main any character will know slightly more about that characters physics. That is why I put it as a disadvantage. I am going to edit my original point to make it clearer.

From AcidJazz
I also disagree with predictability. I think its the opposite actually. Your moveset will become easier to read with multiple characters as you don't have the "physics" down to a T (your #1 point in advantages). Being able to do everything a character can possibly do gives you more options. More options = harder to read.

This is a really good counter point, I didn’t think about it like that. When I was putting the predictability as a disadvantage for people who main 1 character, I was talking about that they will always select that character, if I was to vs that 1 player constantly, you would slowly pick up on there moves that they keep doing. With someone who doesn’t main, they will have different techniques used with different characters. If I was select ROB in 1 match and Marth in the next match, I would be using completely different move sets; which would be harder to predict. That is a good point, I’m curious to see what other people on this board will say about predictability.

 

[Samus_2021]

I have pretty much the same view points as you've already mentioned. I personally use few characters to which fit my style of game play. I hone my skills on those few characters instead of spreading myself thin using everyone.

I am NOT saying that it is impossible to be good with everyone, but that is not for me. I prefer characters like Marth and Falco. Their speed is not too crazy and they're not too slow. They fit my style perfectly.

I tried using characters like King DeDeDe and Ike, I found it was hard to adapt my style to them. On the same note, Sonic is too fast for me. I can't seem to control his movements to the way I'm used to. Does that mean they're bad characters? Absolutely not; it only means that their game play is not designed for how I play.

Bottom line, I think it is about personal preference. If you are adaptable to different characters' style, then that's great. Some people, like myself, would rather stick to characters of a certain preference be it speed over power or vice versa.

 

[Sculelos]

Not strange at all. Right now I main Wolf but I play most of the other characters pretty regularly.

 

[Wave⁂]

I think my sig sums up my opinion.

 

[Supax]

My personal opinion is to find a main just so you can excel with that character rather then just being decent with all of them. If you are decent with all characters, you will most likely lose to anyone that is great with one..

 

[Dante X]

If you want to main the random button, more power to you.

 

[TheKingofDes]

You can learn the Advantages and Disadvantages by fighting a person who mains that character.