i have a problem right off the bat with your definition of a true combo: you are implying there are things to memorize, like if i should be looking at things like, at what percentage can i hit the opponent on attack #4 of this sequence and what move should i do?

one of the main reasons i love smash is because it's sandbox fighting game, meaning, even after 13 years later, SSBM, you can STILL find new combos never seen before. this is because this isn't a regular fighting game: not a lot of things are set in stone. you don't have to memorize a sequence of moves. in fact, the opposite is true, you have to trust your INSTINCT to know when a move will combo into another move, and after playing a certain amount of time (and this depends on how much the player plays really), you'll start to combo into things that you are surprised combo into each other.

a "true combo" is what you're really trying to say is, consecutive hits when the opponent is on HITSTUN, that means, when your opponent has no choice in their movement because they are paralyzed in a helpless state. some moves give more hitstun than others, and these are moves that are generally considered as good combo starters. but you're not TIED to those moves because you can read where your opponent goes. Say for example, you fight an opponent that you know ALWAYS jumps after they are out of hitstun. the simplest followup is to put a hitbox (as in, throw a lazer or a turnip or a knee attack) where the opponent would end up after their jump. whala! you just killed your opponent.

this is impossible to memorize because your opponent CAN influence their trajectory. they can move a little bit to the left. they can choose not to jump (especially after you hit them a few times and they realize what's going on). this is where you start to understand the different types of players and what they generally do.

i've never had to memorize a single thing and i can be pretty decent in smash. in fact, there is only one professional player of smash that does memorize these things (which takes a TON of effort), and it puts him at a slight advantage at best.

Fair. Though the "definition" part of the true combo we stated was: "A combo, that [when preformed] under the same circumstances will always be guaranteed to connect so long as the player executes it correctly"

The exposition that followed was done for the sake of trying to get casual players to understand what makes them different and better than "combos"

We didn't mean to imply that they "needed" to be memorized to be executed, more that since they will always work, that if you do memorize them, you will be able to repeat them, and that would let you do damage more effectively.

For example, a combo with fox: D-air > Wave-Shine > Wave-Shine > U-Smash. With the knowledge that this combo will always work against most characters in SSBM, landing a D-air gives the Fox the chance to follow up with the rest of the combo, and if they have the input and reflexes memorized, that would mean they could do much more than just the 10-ish damage that the drill kick offers.

I believe what you are describing though is what is called "chase game" and in some cases, more specifically "tech chase game".

It creates a really weird metagame, too. There's only two ways to actually hit someone:

- Do something fast before they manage to react.

- Wait for them to attack first, then strike them during their cooldown.

Shulk is kinda an exception because many of his attacks take so long time, you can do them as an enemy starts a dodge and still hit them. Doesn't work against a fast-character user with enough dexterity to always hit you when trying to set up an attack, but still really useful against lesser foes trying to act smart by spamming rolls.

Another pet peeve: what happened to hitting people hanging from ledges with down attacks? Now you're friggin' invincible when on a ledge.

that's still there. i just played a match and beat a peach player by charging megaman's side-smash fully. the charge hit her because her invincibility wore off. idk about smash 64, but in melee, pm, and brawl there was always invincibility at the ledge that wears off.