Topic: 8-player Smash shows a distinct advantage the Wii U could have going forward

8 Player Smash demonstrates the Wii U's ability to support more than 4 controllers, and this could give the Wii U the same advantage the N64 had. It would be the indisputable King of local multiplayer. Yes, local multiplayer has always been big for Nintendo, but with the NES, SNES, GC, and Wii, it was mixed with a strong single player presence too.

The N64, while it had great single player games, was really most well know for multiplayer. Why? 4 controller ports.

With the Wii U's capacity to support 8, we could be seeing a very similar strategy. I wouldn't be surprised to see Mario Kart 8 get support for >4 player, and Splatoon to allow 8-player local multiplayer. Even without >4 player support, Nintendo seems to be interested in adding a strong local aspect to their traditionally single player franchises like Mario Platformers and Zelda.

If Nintendo can stress this well, it might give the Wii U a fighting chance.

Difference is, it's not 90s anymore, when interwebz was not for everyone and you could get friends to come over (and also for some it was the only option). Now try to get 8 people in the same room nowadays - it is possible, but could be harder than back in the day. To me the excuse for not only lacking a voicechat but also this is just idiotic. There are games supporting not only voicechat, but like 30 or even 60 people on one map and it doesn't look that advanced to not be able to work. They just screwed that one up, please understand etc. For me 8 player is pointless when local.

This is actually a really good point. I don't think 8 player local multiplayer is very practical, the only time I could see that happening is at parties.

There aren't many games where you can have that many people playing no the same screen. Smash Bros is the exception rather than the rule when it comes to allowing more characters on the screen. A game like Mario Kart where everyone gets their own view? You can't physically split the screen up that many times without really hammering the performance and the playability of the game.

Remember that the Wii also had this option and from memory there were only a couple of games that had more than four player multi. If I remember correctly both of them were versions of Bomberman, one a VC version that supported 5 players and one a WiiWare version that supported 8. The only other games I remember that had more than four player local are DS and 3DS games but in that case each person has their own processors and their own screen. Besides, all of the modern systems use Bluetooth for their controllers right? They're technically capable of having 7 controllers already. Makes you wonder why nobody has done it ey?

Really, I think this is a great feature for Smash. I just don't think it is the sort of feature that can translate well into other games. And for the other games games it could work in I don't think enough people care to actually find 7 other people to play with.

Are you comparing with some random FPS game, where a latency of 200ms hardly matter at all for gameplay, compared to a game where users feel that non-wired controls give too much latency?

And regarding the 8-player mode, I'll probably more use it more for something like 5 players occasionally. Or more often, 3 players each teaming up with an Amiibo. It's nice that the limit has been increased.

I don't think it really gives them an advantage. I think it will be interesting, especially with co-op classic still throwing 5 characters on screen, but it seems more like they can, so they will.

@skywake
Yup. Bomberman Blast on Wii Ware is a great Bomberman experience. I actually got the full 8 player mode going a few times with the GCN ports. It was pretty cool.

@jariw
It really depends on who you talk to about wired vs. wireless. Sometimes one can do what the other can't. In this specific case, most of the people that think wireless controllers are lagged, are predetermined to believe that. Go look at an Xbox 360 wired vs. wireless test, and the input lag is the same. The same applies to the Wavebird or any other controller, really. When things are local, wired vs. wireless is basically a non-issue. Not to mention some prefer the Wavebird for weight and cordless freedom. The GamePad showing up the display faster than any HDTV anyone is aware of, is basically proof that wireless vs. wired control is a fool's quest.

I was talking about this with a friend earlier today. For some reason, fighters have a far more difficult time avoiding lag than shooters do, with most fighters demanding an ethernet connection to run the most smoothly.

Anyway I'm speaking more for parties or larger get togethers. I'm all for Nintendo embracing online, but solid +4 multiplayer is a solid niche.

As for Mario Kart, one player using the Gamepad with the others using 4p split screen should work fine.

@SCAR392
The bigger problem with wireless is when you're in an environment where there are a lot of people also using wireless controllers. Like WiFi it uses the 2.4Ghz band so that can cause problems. The famous examples are when on E3 stage demos there are sometimes problems trying to get the controllers to work. And even when they do connect there's still noise so they're constantly jumping between bands trying to find the "best" frequency. Which is why at a gaming convention WiFi is all but useless. With wired inputs there's no problem at all so I think that's the bigger practical reason why the wired controller is a preferred option. Plus let face it, Smash is the only Nintendo game that has become a LAN and tournament style game.

@skywake
If we are talking about playing at home or a friends house, it's not really a problem. The statement was that wireless controllers were lagged, though, not the wireless traffic. I've seen wireless traffic before, so I agree with you on that part, but I don't really think it was relevant to the statement being made. The biggest example everybody has probably ran into at one time or another, is how many devices they can connect to WiFi.

If we are debating wired vs. wireless controllers in terms of latency to the console, then the Wii U GamePad is basically throwing that assertion out of the window, because it can input/output before you even see things on screen, anyway.

I'm going to need a bigger TV...

It is not about being "advanced" its about lag. Lag is death in fighting games. Even if you aren't playing competitively. Also there is very little reason to have chat in a fighting game anyway.

I have that 5-player Bomberman on Wii. It's Bomberman '94 for the Turbografx-16. Up to 4 Wii Remote and at least one GameCube controller. It's not everyday that you gather 5 people to play but, it's great fun at parties for the kids.

I don't see the WII U Supporting 8 controllers for local play being an advantage since the Xbox One also supports 8 Controllers.... Personally if we went back 10 years I would see it being a big deal but these days its hard enough finding the time to get 4 people in a room to play some games let alone 8..... Supporting Internet play with good group feature's and party chart option is where Nintendo need to improve things as thats the way people plays games together now.

Why is harder now to find friends to play local with versus 10-15 years ago? Do kids these days not like to hang out together in the same room?

I assume the reason is "if we can play online, why should I go to your place... I better play with you from my home..."

it's practical....

@Ryno @derek_combatir Yep nail on the head its more practical just to set a day a time and get online jump in the party chat channel use headsets and play online with Friends much more practical.

I have quite a good group of friends and since college we would meet up every two weeks have a take away and play games in one of our houses it rotated but due to life (work,family) it become more practical to play online and lets face it local play with friends is dying/dead and Nintendo need to work that out its a shame but its what the world has become used too.

They'd rather communicate with their smartphones nowadays.

Anyway, it doesn't bother me that it's offline only, more smash parties to plan!

To me the biggest advantage isn't the 8 player - really can't think of too many games where that works on 1 screen - but using the 3DS as controllers since they have their own screens since it looks like dual Gamepda support is never going to happen. Splatoon seems like it needs a Gamepad to both shoot and transport on the map. If 3DS can function as Gamepads for 4 players - 2 way split view tv w/ 2 players on each team - thats a huge advantage. The 8 players to me serves 2 purposes - marketing gimmick for big screen events b/c nobody can really play like that, and practice and leveling up your amiibo faster, ie 1 or 2 real players and the other 5 or 6 bots or amiibo. 8 actual real players just isn't going to happen all that often.

So it is a marketing coup of sorts - in theory, but not great for actual game usage - in practice.

Don't know why people say that, actually. I've seen plenty of people of all ages getting together to play games. Online will never replace local, and I'm not sure why folks want it to. They're not comparable at all.

Play local with friends is hillarious.