Falcon NIL Ledgedash on GCC (10F-11F** GALINT) Tutorial

This article is a technical guide for executing a "No Impact Land" (NIL) ledgedash on a GameCube controller (GCC) in *Super Smash Bros. Melee*, written by the player ight. The method requires a precise analog stick motion similar to a moonwalk, focusing on hitting a specific horizontal notch to achieve 10 frames of GALINT (grabs aerial landing interrupt) on most stages, or 11 frames on Yoshi's Story. The guide emphasizes that NIL ledgedashes are superior to standard options due to their lower risk, reduced physical toll, and consistent high GALINT, while also recommending practice tools like m-overlay and Training Mode Community Edition.

Guide written by ight Twitch - @JSPhiladelphia Twitter - ight Bluesky . You can also find me on Discord either in Melee Online or Philadelphia Melee. After grinding for months, I figured out a way to execute NIL ledgedashes on GCC's consistently. This guide is to save you the time I spent. Your only investment is practice and patience. The technical details for how NIL works are highlighted in this video by Gosu timestamp 1:09 . Shoutouts to him for getting me started down this rabbit hole. It helps immensely to use something like m-overlay to see stick position when practicing. It's also highly recommended you use Training Mode Community Edition's Ledgedash Training event. It is better to use the method described in Gosu's video, as he uses keyboard. Executing this on GCC's requires thinking a bit differently than how a rectangle user would. This is because GCC's have travel time on the analog stick. With instant inputs being impossible, I had to find a workaround. The idea is similar to a moonwalk, but with slightly faster speed and focus. All of the steps below must be performed very quickly: - Make sure you are actually hitting perfectly horizontally away or slightly above it, and not below the 90 degree horizontal notch. - This is the most important step and is the key to successful execution - Active focus on hitting this notch is critical, and should be your primary focus. - This is the easiest step. I typically feel like I just let go of the stick, and it still works. - This is also the time where you can begin setting up for options after NIL, such as dash JC grab, instant shield, and more. Again, all of the above must be performed very quickly. If perfectly executed after only 1F of CliffWait you can get 10F of GALINT on every stage. You can get 11F of GALINT on Yoshi's story with a different, slightly easier method: - Drop down from ledge. - Roll stick to down + in and jump after a tiny delay 2F+ - You will ride the wall and can land with 11F because you save a jump frame thanks to Yoshi's slanted ledges. - When going for attempts in actual games, I find it helps to imagine that you are going for the up + away input for the first step. Somehow this helps me auto-correct my execution to avoid accidentally hitting below the 90 degree notch. - Ledgedash training mode in TMCE is essential for practice. You can get hundreds of attempts in and significantly helps refine the technique. - Ensure you practice both sides equally; This is something I regret not doing earlier on, as I have a much better execution rate on the right side as opposed to the left. - Practice peforming NIL out of a variety of situations such as falling to ledge, up-b's, airdodge fastfalls, platform slide-offs, and hax-dashes. Especially hax-dashes. Other ways of getting off the ledge are still useful and should absolutely be used. Having multiple ways to do something in Melee will always be of benefit. However, I believe most of the time, you should be using NIL to get back on stage. - Outside of the stick motion, there's only one input required: Jump. That's it. - Less physical toll with the reduced amount of inputs. - Much lower risk of death than other options, as there is no trigger input that could kill you. - Consistently high amounts of GALINT. Even with slightly late execution, you can easily get 6F+. CliffWait is the determining factor in how much GALINT you end up with. - Unlocks a vast array of options you can now do to counter aggressive opponents and reverse bad situations, rather than the standard nair-on-stage most people do. Examples are highlighted in a later section. - "Happy accidents" if you fail – Missing a NIL is not instant death. If you fail, the result is that you simply jump on stage. You can even accidentally get an aerial-interrupt if you are attemping an option out of a NIL Failing a NIL does not punish you nearly as bad as other options. - Positioning penalty – Other ledgedashes get you deeper into the stage, wheras NIL plops you super close to the brink. This is not always ideal. - Execution barrier – It's hard to hit it 100% of the time, so accidents will happen referenced above . However, on Battlefield, you can sometimes end up below the ledge, so be careful there. It takes time and practice – Hopefully you figure it out quickly, and that's great if you do With tense situations in actual games, it all comes down to muscle-memory. For example, performing one immediately after up-b'ing to ledge is very powerful, but takes focus and resolve. - Standard ledgedash, the easiest one Falcon can do, but often gets very small amounts of GALINT 1F-3F or none at all. - Because it's the most common, it's the most obvious and predicted. - Has the risk of death associated with going for a waveland. - Advanced ledgedash which can also get 10F+ of GALINT, but is much harder to perform as it requires multiple frame perfect inputs in a row. - Much harder to cognitively prepare to execute these; you have to be perfect. - Very high risk of death associated with going for the waveland. - Still good, and somewhere in-between with NIL and regular ledgedashes, but I personally think these are harder to perform and are riskier with worse outcomes if you fail. - Less risk of death because of no trigger input, but much worse positioning if you miss; Nobody wants to do a sloppy Bair on stage. Nobody. Below are my personal opinions on options to do out of a NIL ledgedash and where they stand in value when it comes to playing actual Melee Always useful, value does not degrade throughout a set: - NIL - Dash – Best for retaking center quickly. - NIL - Dash - JC Grab – Can also dash - pivot JC grab. - NIL - Dash - SH Aerial – The fastest way to full-send an aerial after being on ledge. Useful, value can degrade throughout a set: - NIL - Falcon Kick – Element of surprise. It's nasty, trust me. - NIL - Raptor Boost – You can definitely get away with 1 or 2 of these against good players. Not very good against spacies, especially Falco. There's a common denominator with all of the above... You aren't near the ledge any more. Situational: - NIL - Grab – Amazing against opponents who don't respect you at ledge. Great vs specific options Sheik / Peach / Icies / Spacies Dsmash, Marth Dtilt . Loses value after you hit even one or two of these. - NIL - Crouch – Enters true CC immediately which is insane. - NIL - Gentleman – Also good with single or double jab. - NIL - Shield – Can get sick powershields from it. Risks a trigger input. - NIL - Fsmash – Slow, but clanks a lot and if it does, gives you an opportunity to clank - grab. - NIL - Ftilt / Dtilt – I personally prefer Ftilt. - NIL - Aerial in-place – It's fine, but there's usually something better you can do. - Everything else – Not recommended. That's all. Hit me up for questions or sick clips involving NIL. Spread the word