Name (aka Handle):

Saikyoshi.

How old are you?:

18.

Which characters do you play in SSF2? Why do you play these characters?

• Yoshi: Aside from liking the character, I have always felt comfortable with his playstyle due to maining him since Super Smash Bros. 64. I enjoy his range and projectile control, along with being able to use Egg Lay to make a quick getaway and reposition myself and Egg Throw to punish approaching opponents and add a few extra points of damage to a standard attack meeting at the same point, usually his Jab2->Dash Attack B&B combo. I also enjoy his down-smash as a fast-starting and fairly reliable finishing move. Furthermore, his Super Smash Flash 2 playstyle mechanics appear to be similar to his Super Smash Bros. 4 self, meaning that I feel comfortable knowing that any practice with him here will likely carry over.
• Goku: I'm a very reckless player, and he's a very reckless character. I love how he's able to switch on the fly from a brutal offensive force with relentless floating assaults and satisfying, hard-hitting smash attacks to a clever defensive character with his mid-range ki blasts and teleportation mix-ups. Even after his teleportation was nerfed in v0.9b, I felt that only increased my options due to being able to do either an on-ground short-range fake-out or a short hopped warp like in previous demos. I also find the Kamehameha to be an excellent edge guarding move, and using the Kaio-Ken when my current stock is already at kill percentages is a powerful tool to either make a stunning comeback or mercilessly cement a lead that I've already gained. Even after its activation range was nerfed, I don't hold back in trying to get to it and using it to its full potential.
• Tails: I admit that I play as him mostly as a handicap right now, and so I can ditto against my training partner who mains him. I do understand that he has potential, though I don't feel very comfortable with him on a personal level. He's mostly a forced secondary.
• Fox: I've only started taking him up recently, in both SSF2 and Melee/PM, when I realized my tech skill seriously leaved a lot to be desired. So he's mainly a reflex exercise, as he's one of the hardest and most technically-demanding characters to master. I may be averse to top-tier characters, but the devs seem to have done a good job balancing him here. Also, aesthetically, the Marcus costume is a nice touch - it's him I main, not his father.
• Random: I occasionally find myself growing complacent, so I use this icon as a swift wake-up call in order to make me learn to adapt to a character that I'm not used to as quickly as possible. If I learn this, then I'll learn how to act immediately in regulated matches when something does not go according to plan.

How much experience do you have with official Smash titles?:

I admit that I do not have any hands-on competitive experience due to not being able to travel. I do, however, look into what I can do and study on my own in Melee and Project M along with going into discussions on Smashboards, while knowing that it's no substitute for training against a human opponent. Regardless, I'm fully aware that I'm an amateur in the field in the hands-on department, but I am able to consistently understand what's happening even if I'm currently unable to put it into action.

While I have only started taking crash courses in competitive Smash in early 2013, I have played passionately since Smash 64 was released. I consistently main Yoshi in all games, and I also use Mario in 64, Mewtwo and an experimental Fox in Melee, and primarily Mewtwo in P:M. I no longer play Brawl for the most part, but when I did, I experimented with Lucas, Luigi, and Charizard.

Have you ever attended any Smash tournaments? If so, give some details about the tournament (number of participants, which games, etc). How well did you place?:

I have never attended any tournaments.

When did you start playing SSF2?

Version 0.1b.

What is your favorite stage in SSF2? Explain.

Hazardless Tower Of Salvation. I feel that it's a potentially more neutral stage than even Smashville, with the equidistant platforms on both sides unable to be fully dominated by a single player while still being manageable.

Who, in your opinion, should be placed first on the SSF2 tier list? Under competitive settings why would this character perform on a higher level than all others?

Under initial analysis of v0.9b, I feel the spot belongs to Ichigo, with effective approach and defense options in Getsuga Tenshō and Flash Step, along with what I feel is a very large amount of currently-untapped potential in being one of the only characters with an effective Wavedash. I have done some independent study into this AT, and I firmly believe that his largest weakness, the high startup lag of his attacks, is dullened or nullified by this ability.

Who, in your opinion, should be placed last on the SSF2 tier list? Under competitive settings why would this character perform on a lower level than all others?

Under initial analysis of v0.9b, I feel the spot belongs to Mario. He has been, for lack of a better word, crippled by his significantly reduced damage and range in this update. With his smaller physical attacks and the fact that his fireballs only do scratch damage, he has to fight at a much closer range than he ever had to before, a range which he's by design only average in.

That said, I feel the tiers are close enough together this time around for him to still be viable or even excellent.

Keep in mind that this is only an initial assessment and I know full well that I could be eating my words very soon.

If you could make only one change to SSF2 as it currently is, what would it be and why?

I would zoom out the camera. Play as it stands right now feels somewhat claustrophobic in full screen.

What is your view on items in competitive play?:

I am proud to say that I'm a card-carrying member of the Item Standard Play user group on Smashboards. In my personal opinion, items would be safe if set to low and ones that radically alter the course of gameplay with little effort disabled. See the ISP thread I set up in the Community section for details and initial assessments on specific items.

Do you have or can you download Skype? You don't need a mic or webcam.

I'm not entirely sure. I'll try, but I don't necessarily feel comfortable with it.

Why do you want to join the Smash Flash Back Room? What will you contribute? Why are you an exceptional applicant? Be as detailed as possible.

I want to join the Smash Flash Back Room in order to gain experience and insight into the Super Smash Bros. community and its inner workings, and with the release of v0.9b and online play, I'll finally have the hands-on experience that I previously lacked. I intend to observe patterns and learn to punish common mistakes in order to learn both a character's strengths and weaknesses, and I feel that I have at least a decent ability to do that.

Additional Information:

I am currently hosting an online tournament as a first preliminary test of the viability of my initial ISP analysis, so I can get somewhat of an idea on the impact of regulated items in a real match. After it is completed, I will upload it in its entirety to both analyze it myself and to possibly and hopefully start a discussion.

I am well aware that online play has a fairly large margin for error. However, I'm willing to take the risk for now to see if I have at least something to go on.

Please place the following stages into either the neutral, counterpick or banned categories. Please give reasons for your placements.

All hazards off

- Castle Siege
- Sky Sanctuary Zone
- Dracula's Castle

• Castle Siege: I was very close to following the existing stage list and listing it as Neutral due to having mainly the same layout as undisputed neutral Pokémon Stadium 3, along with having that status in Project M as well. However, the prominent slope along with, most importantly, the fact that it's far smaller than Brawl's Castle Siege complicates things. In Project M, there are reasonably-sized flat areas because of the stage's general size, like the counterpick Lunar Core here. However, unlike that, and unlike the similar Jungle Hijinx, which also has a prominent slope but only has one platform and a relatively evenly-lined-up layout, there is no clear neutral ground in this stage along with restricting characters whose prominent attacks are in a straight line, like Samus.
• Sky Sanctuary Zone: While this is another stage with a similar layout to Pokémon Stadium, the slightly raised edges make ledge play awkward to rush into from the main platform and easy to punish by opponents standing on the thinner platforms. In addition, returning to the main platform from the ledges is a pain as momentum doesn't carry over when falling unlike when rising.
• Dracula's Castle: This is possibly the only Past Stage where I'm not bothered by the size reduction. Unlike the far-too-large Project M incarnation, this one, in terms of stage-to-character size ratio, is generally similar to Melee's Battlefield and provides just the right freedom of movement, and the entire roster can take advantage of at least one given platform position with none truly being a considerable obstacle.

EDIT: I've made some minor edits for consistency and clarity.

EDIT 2: Some of the information in the OP is slightly inaccurate right now. I will get to fixing that tomorrow. The issues I was concerned with have been edited.

For quite a while the Back-Room has been looking forward to Online Mode as a means to generate more player vs. player activity and tournaments. One benefit of such activities is an easier time when constructing Tier Lists.

What is your opinion of using Online Mode tournament results (assuming they are available) as a basis for constructing Tier Lists? Is there anything that would make those results play a different role as compared to "local" tournaments?

I firmly believe that online tournaments will be essential in gathering player data. After all, the community is downright minuscule, so not many will be willing or able to travel to a physical tournament.

At the same time, however, I do see a few issues that will absolutely
need addressed in some form.

• There is a margin for error in terms of lag and input delay, which can vary between matches. The only way I see to counteract this is to use a much larger sample size with online play than local play so there will be a higher chance of being able to spot and disregard abnormalities outside the players' control.
• Another issue, one that worries me particularly, is that differing controller setups between players will be nigh-impossible (and unfair, as some will add, due to the prohibitive cost of additional gamepads) to regulate. Fox would see immediate benefits from a Turbo function. Characters that strongly rely on Tilts such as Mario would benefit from less sensitive analog controls or digital controls. Characters with effective dash attacks, such as Yoshi and Black Mage, would find themselves at a serious disadvantage if using anything non-analog, such as the keyboard. Unfortunately, I don't know a solution for this.
• The third issue is the inability to directly supervise. I'm handling this in my own tournament by making both players save a replay and encouraging the loser of a match to upload theirs first (to prevent people from forging a match against a CPU to claim that they won). There are issues with this solution, though, as some things are lost during replays, such as the obvious presence of lag if applicable along with the inability to see if someone paused.

In short, online tourneys will be very important for gathering data to the point of being all we've got a lot of the time, but we must work out some kind of system.

I am aware that my own tournament is poorly set up by these criteria. I need as much practice organizing as I do playing, and I'm well aware that it will only provide me with very rough data as it stands now.

Unfortunately, as we know, the tournament that I hosted was a resounding failure due to an inability to get the combatants in one place. That is another flaw related to the previous question that, though I did foresee the possibility, I failed to adequately address.

Is my application still being considered?

Nope. It has been too long since the last post that some content may be inaccurate now.

Thank you for applying.

Nope. I lied. You're in.

Thank you for applying.