Look outside. Do you see it? Can you sense it? At this very moment, everybody everywhere has Smash Bros. fever.
The next-level anticipation for the sequel to the 3DS/Wii U title of 2014 is about to end. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is days away from (official) release. For some, this may be their first console Smash experience since Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008, an entire decade ago. (Sure, the Wii U version sold an impressive 5+ million copies worldwide, but compared to the well over 9 million copies sold on the 3DS, let alone the 13+ million copies of Brawl, Nintendo is seeking a console rebound they’re soon likely to get.)
Nintendo fans are psyched. Many of them are using the internet’s social channels like public coping mechanisms to pass the time, the days stuffed with jokes, voting and speculation. But how are the most dedicated fans preparing for Smash? Not those who simply love Kirby and Samus and Greninja, but superfans who travel the world to compete, analyze intricate frame data the series over, and practice tirelessly, day in and day out – not as a hobby, but as a job?
In other words, what are professional Smash Bros. players doing leading up to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? That depends on what kind of professional they are: player, tournament organizer, community organizer, or even announcer.
Streaming, Video, and More: The Start of Something Big
Much has changed in the gaming world since the last Smash Bros. game came out in 2014. The act of streaming video games obviously existed back then, but now it’s much bigger. Smash Bros. is also bigger. But how big Nintendo’s mascot brawler looms on the world stage largely depends on how you look at it.
Back in 2014, around the release of Smash for Wii U and 3DS (Or “Smash 4”, as many refer to it), Twitch had just begun its power swing into becoming the largest streaming gaming site. Then, it was still shy of achieving 100 million viewers a month. One merger with Amazon and a purchase of streaming company Curse later, that number is up to 140 million unique viewers a month.
As of this writing, Smash 4 has 1,128,858 followers on Twitch. That’s a lot! But it’s not a ton relative to other video games. Here’s a “as-of-this-writing” list of the top games on Twitch, as measured by users who follow them:
- 34,219,876 Followers - Fortnite
- 24,219,063 Followers - Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds
- 18,061,464 Followers - Grand Theft Auto V
- 16,523,896 Follower - League of Legends
- 13,545,872 Followers - Overwatch
- 9,290,087 Followers - Minecraft
- 7,062,326 Followers - DOTA 2
- 5,960,534 Followers - Hearthstone
- 5,894,302 Followers - Rocket League
- 4,400,283 Followers - World of Warcraft
- 3,664,591 Followers - Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- 2,278,749 Followers - Heroes of the Storm
- 2,077,829 Followers - FIFA 19
- 1,415,871 Followers - Starcraft 2
Smash 4’s 1,128,858 viewership wouldn’t even qualify on this list. (In case you’re wondering, Super Smash Bros. Melee has 839,308 followers, also as of this writing.)
How does Smash do within the fighting game genre?
- 1,269,526 Followers - Dragon Ball FighterZ
- 1,173,534 Followers - Street Fighter V
- 1,128,858 Followers - Smash for Wii U
- 916,760 Followers - Tekken 7
- 839,308 Followers - Super Smash Bros. Melee
- 521,539 Followers - Injustice 2
While Smash can indeed hang with most of the games it features alongside of at major fighting tournaments, it's mostly middle-of-the-road fare elsewhere.
You might be saying to yourself, “Okay, but who cares how many people are watching Smash Bros. on Twitch?” Professional Smash players care, that’s who. And they think that number is about to grow.
Historically lacking major means for support, many Smash pros have recently cashed in on their personal brands to produce streaming audiences, subscription models, monetized ads, and the whole virtual shebang.
This may seem obvious, but it hasn’t always been this way. Historically, the vast majority of Smash-related video content on the internet consisted of tournament matches between players. Yet in recent years, and ramping up considerably as Nintendo has slowly dripped information about Ultimate, professional matches have been equalled – if not totally eclipsed – by reaction and speculation videos from the pros.
The most popular output from eSports stars on YouTube these days has titles like “#ESAMOpinion of ALL CHARACTERS in Super Smash Brothers Ultimate”, “ISABELLE IN SMASH BROS ULTIMATE (Alpharad's Reaction)” and “MY NEW FAVORITE FALCON COMBO”. This scenery change is easily the biggest difference to accompany a Smash Bros. game’s release within the community, and it’s a byproduct of almost half a decade’s time between titles. “At the end of the day, building a presence there is by far the most important investment you can make. More so than winning,” emphasizes Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios to Nintendo Life, the world’s best Smash 4 player.
All of this online content is tremendously helped along by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s popularity with the world at large. Nintendo is giving the pros an inadvertent lifeline like never before by making their mascot royal-rumbler the choice recipient of huge video reveals, massive convention booths, and millions in digital and physical advertising. This is a mindshare windfall like never before.
“They’re treating it like their biggest game ever, honestly,” says Nairoby Quezada to Nintendo Life regarding the release of Smash Ultimate. He’s otherwise known as “Nairo” in the Smash community. “[There’s] tons of marketing in place...and a clear nod to the competitive community for some aspects of the game.”
D’Ron “D1” Maingrette, a former professional player and current Smash Bros. announcer strongly echos these sentiments. “Nintendo's efforts to promote Smash Bros. Ultimate are on a way bigger scale than what they did for Super Smash Bros. Wii U,” D1 tells Nintendo Life. “The amount of tailgate events at schools, exhibitions being held, kiosks erected...you can tell Nintendo's pulling out all the stops.”
Whether the developers explicitly sought it or not, professional players are seizing this opportunity to capitalize on the popularity of the Nintendo Switch and the marketing machine for Ultimate. More than a few of them are making it their livelihoods, and they want you – not to mention the likely larger online audience Ultimate will bring in – to smash that subscribe button.
Preparing Ultimate for Tournament Life
There are, in fact, many hurdles before professional Smash Ultimate can properly begin as an eSport. The very first question hardcore players have had to answer is whether or not Ultimate will supplant Smash 4. Given the infamous schism in the Smash community after the release of 2008’s Brawl, this is surprisingly not a given. However, virtually all agree Ultimate has what it takes.
“The community is fully prepared and able to make Ultimate the premiere title,” says Juan Manuel “Hungrybox” DeBiedma to Nintendo Life. “Smash 4 will die immediately and fade into irrelevance the moment Smash Ultimate is released from the sheer similarity of the games, and from the fact that this will be the most-played (Smash) title worldwide for the next few years.”
Hungrybox, very arguably the world’s best Smash Bros. Melee player, also believes Melee will maintain its noticeable cult status apart from all Smash Bros. related activity. 17 years after Melee’s release, few seem to argue that point anymore.
With that largely settled, the next logical eSports hurdle is tournament hosting. Will Ultimate earn its footing like Smash 4 before it?
Where Will Ultimate’s Money Come From?
One abiding feature of a pro smash player, especially those who have been in the community since the days of Melee and even beforehand, is that of an inferiority complex. To them, it’s a minor miracle Smash Bros. can now even be talked about in the same breath as, say, Street Fighter V, a series that is financially backed year in and year out by Capcom and its many sponsors.
“In a way, I like the grassroots raw feel of the Super Smash Bros. scene. It's about family and competition,” Bassem “Bear” Dahdouh tells Nintendo Life. Dahdouh is an eSports event organizer who has helped direct virtually every major Smash Bros. tournament in recent memory.
That grassroots feeling is something many Smashers wear as a badge of honour, earned by a decade of corporate neglect, and it’s still worth noting in 2018 for reasons we’ll neatly emphasize with two statistics: one which explains the scene’s biggest strength going into Ultimate, the other, its glaring weakness.
First, the strength. By attendance alone, Smash has few peers. Fighting series often start off with a big apex, then dwindle over time. Smash is trending strongly in the opposite direction. “Melee took Smash 64 from maybe 30 people to 100 man events. Brawl took Melee from 100 to around 300-person majors. Then Smash 4 pushed us into this 2,500 person EVO territory,” recounts Kyle “Thinkaman” Brockman, community contributor and a moderator at Smashboards.com, the largest online message board dedicated to the series.
But then there’s the other half of the equation. Consider this: after winning the Smash 4 portion of Evo 2017, Smash player Salem walked away with just over $9,000 after a 60/20/10 earnings split. That was with a whopping 1,515 entrants. The winner of the Injustice 2 portion of that same tournament, which had 632 fewer entrants than Smash 4, won over $35,000. Why? Because Warner Bros. Interactive donated an additional $50,000 to the pot. It’s really that simple.
Today, through sheer, brute force, individual Smash players themselves continue to make the scene happen, with or without Nintendo’s financial support. But just as with streaming and videos, the groundwork for a more modern tourney existence has already begun.
Nintendo’s Role
A brighter hope for Ultimate’s eSports future begins, but does not end, with Nintendo themselves.
eSport fans are relieved to see Nintendo continually sponsors yearly fighting game tournaments, such as the aforementioned EVO and Genesis events. But far more impressively, many of the features pros have been calculating by hand for years are at last hard-coded into the upcoming game, such as an in-depth frame analysis mode and various tournament modes and menu options. There is reportedly an online mode dedicated to those who earn a certain skill level. And of course, there’s the ever important promise of keeping things at 60 fps, no matter what.
Not to mention the interesting tidbit that Nintendo has announced Japan-only leagues to play in sponsored events (albeit with items turned on, a major faux-pas in the Smash eSports community). The overall intent is still there, however.
But don’t hold your breath for Nintendo to drop a huge cash pot on an Ultimate tournament any time soon. Nintendo of America COO Reggie-Fils-Aime has repeatedly dodged the question in interviews, which likely translates to a polite “No.” The company seems to still prefer supporting its own enigmatic events, like this Japanese league, or the Super Smash Bros. Invitational.
To this point, says Dahdouh while citing his intent to continue directing major tournaments, “I hope there will be more financial support for events to compensate staff in many areas.”
The Role of Teams and Sponsors
Helping to somewhat offset this major issue are professional team salaries and product sponsorships, akin to the landscape of most every other eSport game out there. This is an area that began in infancy during the Smash 4 era, likely to expand to greater heights for Ultimate.
“It took Smash 4 a little bit to find its space in the esports realm,” begins DeBiedma, “but it's basically a solved industry at this point and I have no doubt we will see countless organizations, from S-Tier (Liquid, Cloud9) to startups, all picking up players.”
Yet one major issue the community has not solved ahead of Ultimate is what, besides the players themselves, companies are able to even sponsor. Quezada casts doubts on current investors looking to expand.
“To be a Smash player, you only need one thing: a GameCube controller…[and] Smashers only want to buy first-party controllers made by Nintendo. The problem this creates is that when you sign with a team, you [can get] all these sponsors [for] keyboards, cryptocurrency, PCs, and more.” Nairo gives the example of streaming Fortnite, where you easily advertise things like headphones and keyboards. “I understand right now it’s really difficult for teams to justify paying a lot of money to a Smash player.”
Mapping Out the Game’s Rules and its Guts
Last but certainly not least, how have the pros been preparing for the game itself? How are they preparing for character changes? And will the official rules stay the same as in Smash 4, or will they change?
Places like Smashboards and of course social media have been booming with terse opinions even before a single official tournament match has been played. Somewhat surprisingly, most every Smash player contacted for this story has bristled from their side of the already heated debate regarding to-be tournament standards dictating number of lives allotted, legal stages, and more.
“Even with my status as a top player and community leader, I personally don’t feel I’ll have much say in the ruleset, unfortunately,“ laments Quezada. “In the past, there have been secret groups run behind closed doors by tournament organizers to decide the rules of the game. I've seen this happen for 10 years now with Brawl and Smash Wii U. They haven’t let players have a say in it due to ‘conflict of interest’.”
Nairo believes this is ultimately unfair to top players. “I disagree with that notion and wish everyone in the community could have a say on stages, stocks, timers, etc instead of just one group of people. This is our livelihood for some of us and it’s largely decided by people who sometimes don’t even play the game!”
But to others, keeping matters out of the hands of the known top competitors is a check and balance that is critical, perhaps now more than ever before the game is about to come to life.
Practice, Practice, Practice
In terms of characters and gameplay changes, those who have played the game already through special events, in tandem with those who have absolutely torn apart known footage pixel by pixel, have already cultivated an impressive knowledge pool. (There are even pre-release tier lists, for crying out loud.)
“There isn't a single character that didn't receive very nuanced, detailed changes. Not one, in the preexisting 58,” says Brockman. Maingrette sees this as a challenge for his continued role as a professional announcer. “This particular Smash game has so many different characters, which means I will have to get ready to study thousands of different match-ups, and memorize a ton of data in order to keep the general public informed with all things related to the game and community.”
On all those nuanced changes from Smash 4 to Ultimate, Brockman expands: “In isolation, many of (the changes) seem odd, but together it all works: The short-hop attack penalty makes no sense without faster jumps, which calls for less landing lag to flow smoothly, which would be problematic without the upgraded shield parry, which could contribute to overly defensive options without dodge decay, which would penalize air dodges too much without the directional option, which requires cast-wide move speed increases to keep punishable, which would make edge guarding lopsided if not for balloon knockback. It just, all fits.”
Needless to say, from various online dissections to lengthy posts on Smashboards, the hardcore community has kept very, very busy.
Everyone Is Here
When Smash Ultimate releases worldwide on December 7th, the vast majority of its players will get together with their friends, pick their favourite Nintendo character and just start pushing buttons. In some ways, the pros will be no different.
What separates the impassioned from the sternly dedicated will instead be things like intricate YouTube tagging, sponsorship recruitment efforts, video editing and just plain hard work every single day for years to come. This is work that is a continuation of a collective effort stretching out years before Ultimate was even announced.
It’s what the pros have done to prepare for Smash Ultimate.
But if there is one thing that unites both the expert and the amateur more so than any other thing, it's the sentiment summed up neatly after asking Quezada how he feels going into the final week before Ultimate’s release.
“It’s so close man! I can’t wait!”
Comments 85
If you guys like these sorts of features, let us know!
My preparation will consist of just pre-ordering the game.
@ReaderRagfish You say that but some people prefer playing without items... Because they prefer competitive. Just because they aren't having fun the same way you are doesn't mean they are doing something wrong.
@ReaderRagfish if they are willing to fork over cash to Nintendo just to play on one stage with one fighter than far be it from me to tell them to stop.
My issue is just with people who tell others how you have to play again. Personally, I think fox only, no items, FD is silly but we're all silly in some way so...
@ReaderRagfish What a weird advice. Yes, I do agree that people who turn items off immediatly without giving it a chance, really need to give it a chance since it's a way other side of the game. But still, everyone their own choice and play style right?
@Pandaman This article has been a breath of fresh air. Good to see some actual writing again on this site.
I can already tell it’s going to surpass Melee.
Resist Bros. (pun not intended) only 3 days now.
@Pandaman This was a great read, thank you! I would very much like to see more articles of this sort on the site.
I expect only greatness from this game considering all the effort Nintendo takes to advertise and hype it up.
@ReaderRagfish have you have thought that maybe people have more fun playing the game competitively? I think they dislike items because of their randomness, in the same way people didn't like random tripping in Brawl. It's just unfair; nothing fun about it when playing competitively.
There's a time for both casual and competitive smash bros fun. Neither way is the "wrong" way to play.
@Kalmaro @ReaderRagfish @Saego @Snivy102 I would think have items on might mike it even more competitive, since players would have to adapt to/avoid more variables. Either way, I hope everyone is ready for the inbound fun.
I neeeeeeed it right meow!
I’m gonna have to stop you at “Smash Pros.” 😁
@HobbitGamer it doesn't make it more competitive when it comes down to whoever gets the better pokemon from poke balls. That's like saying chess would be more competitive if a level of randomness was introduced.
@Kalmaro
I also play competitive fighter games like DBFZ and Injustice 1/2. And in most fighting game cases you don't change the rules around because some people feel it is "unfair". That's how it works. Tier lists exists to show who is trash. Items are added in to make it feel more balanced. But if you're item game is weak, then you plainly suck at one of the mechanics in the game. The randomization is how they balance it so items aren't necessarily unfair.
Great piece, congrats to the writer. I'd love more of these.
The competitive scene for Ultimate is going to be an interesting one to follow. With more characters than ever (and more of them seemingly tournament-viable than ever), there should be a lot of variety in MUs and a lot of excitement for spectators.
Some people still don't know that we don't play only Final Destination in tournaments.
I'm looking forward to playing Ultimate and to following tourneys more than I was. After I graduate, might even compete in some locals.
To everyone saying tourneys should play with items on: you don't really want that. It's not (or at least not just) elitism. Items work for fun play with friends and family. Nothing wrong with them. They're fun for 90 percent of players. But in professional or high level play final smashes and items encourage camping and exploiting items for gamebreaking combos. It wouldn't be the kind of fun chaos management that it is for 90 percent of players. It would give a huge advantage to characters who can camp until items spawn, and the items themselves would make for cheap combos. It wouldn't be satisfying to see a game won by say, Jigglypuff running away, then using a down throw bob-omb combo or hitting people into a thrown baseball bat or similar shenanigans. Even the banana, a relatively weak item, has proven to be a core reason why Diddy Kong is so good - he's got a projectile item that induces tripping and good combo options to follow up with and to force people into the banana with. In short, items on or final smash on play by the best players would be slow and boring and unsatisfying, and strategy would become based around exploiting the most unbalanced and random aspects of the game. I think the extreme unpopularity of Hungrybox's Jigglypuff in Melee and of Bayonetta's broken combos in Smash 4 prove the audience doesn't like slow, campy gameplay or reliable 0-death combos, and that's what items and final smashes would encourage.
@NightwingJay That's all well and good but if the majority of the competitive players say they want to play a certain way, then that's what typically goes.
I'm not sure what it is about eSports/Pro Gaming that rubs me the wrong way....I should like it...it's like sports, but about something I'm actually interested in, but something, if not everything about eSports gaming completely turns me off and makes me cringe harder than Rex & Pyra at Poppi's unveiling.
I can get into the core fighters a bit more (anything from Arc, Tekken, Soul Calibur, DoA, Street Fighter, etc, etc. Fight stick type fighters), but Smash really rubs me wrong in eSports, as do EA Sports type games and squad shooters. There's something off about the whole atmosphere of it I can't put a finger on.
@Pandaman Great feature! I'm not terribly interested in the specific subject matter of this article, personally, but the content and coverage is excellent, regardless. Definitely the sort of thing (not specifically eSports, but the type of coverage and depth, interviews, behind the scenes, etc.) I think most of us love to see at NL!
I'm just curious as to why csgo (14M followers) was left off the list of most-followed games on twitch. Just seems to be a weird omission.
@NEStalgia
I agree with you. I can't take it seriously for some reason.
Imagine if the national anthem was sung before every tournament. I would probably die of laughter.
@Luffymcduck Probably the same people who can't tell a tilt apart from a smash.
I've recently been back into smash 3DS, and I think I'm ready to give a tournement a shot when ultimate comes out!
An interesting read. And I know the fans can't wait but I also feel that Nintendo are not pushing smash enough to get those high sales.
I've seen no TV spots, the shops in town have no window displays or stickers. If at best you own a switch and go to the charts you will find a dummy box saying out soon. But that's it!
Poor effort!
5 million Wii u sales to 6 million consoles thats a very high attach rate.
If we say the switch is currently at 25 million consoles sold what do you think the smash sales will be.....5 again or 8?
I got no issue with the pro scene... except that all the techno babble gets on my nerves.
Crouch cancelling, L cancelling, dash cancelling (why so much cancelling?), fairs, bairs, dairs, nairs, techs, DI...Kind of comes off as trying to sound all cool and nerdy. Maybe it is useful when describing certain situations, but I just find it irritating. Just my opinion though.
Sometimes I do want to get online and play competitively, but I often find myself getting too keyed up and sucked into it. Maybe I should just stick with playing with my brother and friends.
@NightwingJay
You have no idea what are you talking about. This is not quake where items have a specific location and getting them before the enemy and using them correctly is part of the skillset. In smash items spawn completely randomly and some of their effects (like pokeball and assists) are completely random as well. No skills involved whatsoever just luck. And that is the polar opposite of fair competition
I was unstoppable in Brawl and Brawl is still my fave, have to see where ultimate fits in 😋
Ninty are not doing anything here in UK for Smash, I've seen ONE as on TV for it 😬 And 99% of people I talk to about games in my shop where I work which is alot, 12-35 year olds, 0 know about Smash ultimate and most not even heard of the Smash series!!! Hell, most kids 18 and under never heard of Nintendo lol
I can't wait for ultimate! 🤯
@datkoops It wasn't a comprehensive list, and I think I had CS:GO on a previous draft. Must have slipped off somehow. Regardless, there are technically more games that would "make" that list, but after culling around 20, I think the point was made. Good eye though!
@Reploid Sports filled a role in American culture during the urbanization of the early 20th century. A shared experience in developing cities where community wasn't a given. Something to make small talk about. That's actually important. They're kind of silly, but they're important to people, partially because they unite people. I think that's part of why they've taken on a patriotic identity, even though it's kind of silly to sing about a battle in the War of 1812 before we watch millionaires swing a stick. Nobody even knows about the War of 1812. I probably know more about it as an undergraduate history major than 95 percent of the country. But we like to sing about it. There's nothing wrong with silly, but we don't have to have a rational reason for why we do emotional things.
Esports have never had to fill the same function of providing a shared experience between dissimilar people who have to be neighbors. It's not surprising that we don't think of them patriotically. I think of them more in the same way I think of chess. Neither are watched communally, but people who know the game find competitions interesting. They take fast thinking and sometimes reflexes. I enjoy them because watching a good competition is fun, not because of where I'm from. I like sports because I'm a member of a community that likes sports; I like certain esports because I'm an individual who finds certain things interesting regardless of whether anyone else does. And things that I like because I'm an individual rarely incite community or patriotic feelings.
Also, esports are kind of silly. So are many enjoyable human activities. We're too afraid of silly sometimes. Silly doesn't mean bad, and laughing at oneself isn't bad either.
@Giygas_95 I hear you but what would you choose to say when someone cancels out the animation of one attack by crouching, or when someone uses their aerial attack designed to hit someone behind them?
@Kalmaro I wouldn't really say anything. I just play the best I know how. As for aerials, I just call them forward aerials, back aerials, etc. I feel lazy calling them bairs, fairs, and nairs.
You can probably tell I ain't much of a competitive player. Different strokes and all that.
@LinkSword I don’t know the difference, what is it? I may know, but I wouldn’t be surprised I’m wrong. Is it like Ness’ up Smash is a yo-yo but tilt up then A is the other move?
@ReaderRagfish Uhh... No. What you said is called an opinion. Many people, like myself, prefer items off because then actual skill can more likely dictate the winner.
@HobbitGamer As a long-time member of the competitive scene, I can unequivocally tell you that items on reduces the competitive aspect of the game. It breeds chaos and unpredictability, therefore reducing the skill factor in determining the winner. You're welcome to play as you wish with friends, but the competitve community sets its rules for good reason.
@Steviej321 Well, foot. Are there ever competitive matches with items? I guess that would be more for viewers than proving anything.
@Pandaman I like e-sports...but I think the best competitive e-sport Nintendo has for streamers are the Draft League formats for high-end Pokemon competitors. They might deserve a feature. Their Smogon community dates back to the gameboy, when they wrote their own battle simulator to play others online. Today, there are franchised teams that draft pokemon so that each league only has one player with that particular monster, then compete in a regular season, elimination playoffs, and eventual championship. It more interesting to watch, since each team has 12 pokemon they could bring. So players create their teams based on what they know their opponent could bring, creating strategies that are highly situational and different from the Official tournament's teams (which are virtually all the same).
@Giygas_95 Haha, I understand. The jargon gets kinda confusing sometimes but I can understand them using short terms. Helps with commentators.
@Kalmaro Like I said I do occasionally like competitive play, but when I try to do it myself online, I either do poorly and get frustrated, or I do well, and then winning becomes too important. Wish I could just enjoy it without getting all keyed up. Although I do like playing with my brother with items on and just smacking the crap out of each other with bats and clubs.
@Giygas_95 I'm not that into the competitive scene. In fact, I don't like watching pro people play smash. Not sure why.
As long as I'm better than my baby brother, I'm happy 👍
Watching pros play just makes me feel horribly inferior, but I guess it's all about the level you like playing at.
@Giygas_95 maybe that's it? I dunno, I feel like I could do all the stuff the smash pros do, which makes me get kinda bored I guess.
I don't get the same feeling from, say, DBFZ. I KNOW I can't do that stuff.
@Kalmaro I think I could do great offline but then online there's always just that little bit of lag that screws me up. Also when I'm online, like I said, I get kinda keyed up for some reason, and I make mistakes I probably wouldn't normally.
When I look at all those images, of all those Smash players around the world, I'm humbled and feel good knowing that I was among the proud few progenitor players back when SSB64 was in its prime. No online play, not much of a "scene", just friends you know around you, connecting with some people through the internet for meet ups, and dealing with all the "Smash is no fighting game!!" debates that affectionate versus fighter players would hurl at us as we proceeded, lol. We were pros who could manage the chaos of stage, item, and 4 player battle royales, but could also show our worth with no item one-on-one play before it was a thing.
I last went hard on the Melee days, actually having fun at tourneys and friendlies for a while, then life and things just got in the way. I had both Brawl and SSBWiiU in their times, but never really dedicated myself to anything serious, so I just enjoyed the nostalgia and new characters that they brought.
But now... now with SSBU, combined with where my life is currently, I actually feel it calling to me again. I want to get back in the tourney scene. I want to spend countless hours practicing. It's crazy, but I feel if I never play another SSB again, THIS is THAT one.
Lastly, I also hope I will still get to play some people that take full item, full stage, 4 player brawls seriously too. I still consider it the Mario Kart of fighting games, and you can't turn those items off, but I digress. I just hope I can have fun in both "types" of play this generation.
Please can we have more articles with this level of depth/quality of writing?
@Syrek24 There was a thread a while back about games that the fanbase ruins the game for you. Smash is definitely spots 1-3 for me. Pokemon is up there. Actually the Playstation as a platform is up there..... Undertale comes next.
@Snivy102 Backgammon, Poker, Bridge, and Mario Kart all have random elements. That doesn’t mean they aren’t tests of skill. It’s by no accident that John Numbers made it to the finals at the Nintendo World Championships twice in a row, or that in my office the annual Mario Kart 8 tournament was won by the same person three times in a row. Likewise if you play a match against a professional poker player, they will beat you more often than not.
I prefer to play with items on. That’s just me though. I do like watching pro Smash matches. I was kinda wondering if the Melee crowd would jump on this new one. Anyways, while I’m playing in online matches I really hope I don’t get stuck in Taunt Party matches.
@Syrek24 So many lines just to openly announce you're an ignorant, petty, hateful scrub. It's not enough to just enjoy your games differently, no - you need to actively hate on other people for doing their own stuff. Pretty darn pathetic.
@Euler but does the randomness make it more competitive than if there was no randomness? Mario Kart would be much more competitive if it was purely skill. This is why time trials are typically more competitive than items on. And this is also why there aren't any "professional Mario Kart players".
@Syrek24 i could see this statement holding water in the Brawl days, since Melee players really were vocal about how much they hated Brawl. But in 2018, i think people like you are the problem. Nobody is forcing you to play the game competitively. The competitive community doesn't go out of their way to tell casual players that they are wrong for playing the game with items on. The competitive community is well aware that Smash games are first and foremost supposed to be party games. They just choose to play it their own way, and they shouldn't be "called out" for playing the game that way.
@Kalmaro same, aside from resetting my mewtwo amiibo. Can't really play ssb4 on my 3ds anyway with how back currently is. This is by all means the worst muscle strain I've had in my life, years of wear and tear affecting me all at once... I hate getting older
@Shadowmoon522 I miss the when I used to have summers off and I'd just stay at home gaming all day, haha.
That said, I'm much happier as an adult, I can buy stuff!
@Syrek24 So what you're shoving down our throats is that you're way of playing is the best and that you hate when other people shove things down your throat.
Gotcha.
Nice article, quality reading!!!
If you guys like these sorts of features, let us know!
I like eSports stuff.
@Snivy102 Not sure what you mean by more or less competitive. I don’t know whether or not Poker would be more competitive without elements of random chance. The point is that they’re part of the game, and part of doing well is adapting to them and finding the optimal strategy.
Fortnite has a lot of professional players (far more than Smash), yet it has plenty of random elements.
Funny how the community wants to have sponsored tournaments held by nintendo and yet they would download the game illegally. It sucks specially knowing that "pros" who have been sponsored before by Nintendo are doing it.. And people just defend this which is sad. We dont deserve anything w how this community acts. Oh and dont forget the people who threatened Sakurai for the characters they wanted in the roster and didn't make it.
@Euler ya you're right. I just think items on is a bit too much for competitive smash
Oh yeah, more articles like this would be pretty cool.
Great article, let's hope ninty dives the hand in the pocket to support the competitive scene. I can't wait for this game to finally get out, I am even dreaming of it. Hope it is worth the wait, everyone onto the hype train!
All of y’all saying that more people should play 4 player battles... Nah guys, eight player battles are where it’s at!! And on the smallest stage possible too! All items on! Three lives!
Awesome article, and I hope that everyone enjoys smashing their friends and foes alike off the screen in a few days! Play your own way and all that jazz, haha.
Great piece here, I always enjoying reading these types of features.
I'm a huge Smash fan myself, but I don't think I'd ever dive into the competitive scene. A big part of the fun in Smash to me is trying to be great with any character and using any items you want while playing all stages. Still, the competitive scene is still fun to watch and read about.
I never realised Smash could be so HEEEE-UGE!
Meh, I am looking forward to playing it, and I preordered it. But overall Smash isn't that big a deal for me. It's "just" a good game. But I know for a lot of people it is much more than that.
@NightwingJay That is definitely not how it works whatsoever in Smash. The amount of items and the fact that the items don't spawn in consistent places is what leads to games where someone who has no idea what they're doing completely kills a seasoned Smash veteran. It makes the action lopsided and unfair. Smash isn't like "most fighting games," in case you haven't noticed.
I'm not too sure about the changes to some of the mechanics and how things work in this version. Launch speed, air dodge, and grabbing all seem iffy to me based on gameplay. But I'm excited nonetheless to see how it takes off.
Really liked this piece. In depth, yet accessible.
@Pandaman Loved it
I like to play smash more competitively, but I could argue that it can be good (Even for newcomers) to turn off items.
Not to say you have to play every round this way, but items introduce a level of randomness, and a general need to understand what each item does.
Turning them off can help a player better grasp the fundamentals and mechanics of the game, with less to worry about.
Tomorrow's the day. Can't wait to hold that brandnew Switch Gamecube Controller and smash some K.Rool and Ridley.
@Pandaman I've no interest in e-sports but it's good to get glimpses into this whole other side of video games. So yeah, keep well-written features like this coming please!
I am so bored of hearing about this game. every day a post about a poxy kids fighting game. yawn. hurry up and release it then people can stop writing about it.
Great article, yes more please!
If we’re talking about smash taking off further in the competitive scene, the next key support thing will be continued balancing changes that make sense both in the implementation and timing. Street fighter V has seasons which I don’t advocate for smash but it lets them and the players have a good idea of when new changes will come out.
Nintendo needs to keep as much of the roster relevant as possible for as long as possible. Being broken or having only a pool of viable characters will decrease the competitive scene’s popularity
24,219,063 Followers - Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds
wow and people are saying that game is dead...yet it's still in a completely different league than almost all other games except fortnite and gta v
If there are Smash Bros. fans who tell people they shouldn't play with items or shouldn't play low tier characters, 1, they're stupid, and 2, that's not usually the best players in the Smash 4 scene. Most of those have fun playing lots of different characters for fun and practice. And there are a lot of competitive players who main or second a lower tier character with good matchups or who can do things people aren't expecting. Besides, most I've seen tell their fans that tier lists don't matter for 99 percent of players and that they should play who they want. There's a decent article on SmashWiki on what tier lists are supposed to communicate and why they exist that would be good reading for fighting game fans.
Fandoms are universally awful though, and are to be avoided. Somehow, building communities exclusively around a piece of entertainment convinces people that the entertainment is more important than it really is and that hurting other people over their opinions about it is okay.
@shonenjump86 As a fan of fighting games, I wholeheartedly agree. Smash is just a lot more fun with items and stage hazards on, in my opinion. I can’t get into the competitive side at all, despite trying multiple times. Still, no slight against the people who do decide to play with all that stuff turned off, though. I’m glad people have the option to play how they choose.
@Kalmaro i wish i could work more again, like i was up til oct 1 when my lower back muscle got sprained. rather have been stabbed in the back again, at least when i had gotten stabbed i could still control my muscles and move around freely.
at least now i'm able to move well to move around most of the stuff in my house but it will be awhile before i'll be able to carry dressers, couches ect a few miles on foot again considering selling things that people just threw away was my one of my main sources of income.
@Shadowmoon522 I'm sorry to hear that
I know it can be frustrating having your body not work like it's supposed to, are you recovering at least or is this something that's keeping you out of work permanently?
@Kalmaro well, i'm still working a good bit but i'm mostly stuck repairing things and selling them which is what i normally did in the evening while shiny hunting in 2 different pokemon games, playing a 3ed game and watching stuff anyway. beyond that i've had two of my exs who are body builders and are currently dating each other doing most of the leg work for me. the two of them have definitely been better minions then girlfriends.
@Shadowmoon522 That is certainly a story I was not expecting to hear. Glad to hear that you can still be productive at least.
@Kalmaro unlike most people i tend to keep in good terms with my exs, that being said there are a few that i have tried to kill me.
@CptBiasAran I hear ya on that. Sorry for late reply.
@shonenjump86 It’s all good, brother.
@barroba
Skill is involved in gaining the item. It appears and you have a chance to get to it. Whether you make it a priority to obtain or not is what matters. If You're across the board from an assist trophy then you will have to chalk that up to rng. But that's ignoring the fact that it may be in your favor next item spawn.
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