I just can't seem to get it right. I'm only able to pull one off half the time in training mode, and barely at all during battle. I hop, immediately air dodge downward, and then tilt slightly. After spending much time in training mode trying to get it right, I still, can't seem to ever get to a point where I can do them all the time. Am I missing something? I can very easily air dodge downward and see puffs of smoke come out of my feet, but actually doing a dash is difficult for me.

I was able to snake and dodge blue shells in Mario Kart DS, I can beat Metroid Zero Mission in under 40 minutes, and I can even pull off those glitches in Spyro 2 where you can double jump and swim in the air. But I can't do a fucking wavedash.

So I guess the question I'm getting at: Is this normal? Or is wavedashing pretty easy for most people? Also, how necessary is wavedashing in melee?

Some background: I'm mostly a SSB64 player, maining Dr. Mario in Melee and PM. Sometimes Roy in PM.

Edit: wording.