Rotation, Rotation: The Circle of Smash

Mic_128 · Dec 11, 2007

Ever had only 1 console, 4 controllers but 5 or more people? What do you do? You’d usually (if polite) take turns, the guy who loses passes the controller, or maybe whoever keeps on winning passes on after a few rounds. Well Sakurai’s brought back a mode that was originally burried under tournament mode in Melee and attempted to give it new life. Rotation mode enters the fray!
<img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/various17_071211a-l.jpg" alt="Ooooh menu-riffic!" />

What do you do? It’s simple, you just pick how many controllers you have…
<img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/various17_071211b-l.jpg" alt="The picture demonstrates a new controller type: Cranial cord implants!" />
…followed by how many actual people you have…
<img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/various17_071211c-l.jpg" alt="Only 6? Not much of a Smashfest" />
…and lastly choose how you’re going to decide who goes, and how many (Top 2 go, last 2 go, ect)
<img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/various17_071211d-l.jpg" alt="Where's the option for 'Everyone but Mic out'? What do you mean there isn't one!?" />
As per all modes of play (with the posible exception of the unknown of Subspace) you can input your name and controller settings.
<img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/various17_071211e-l.jpg" alt="Man, watch out for No. 8! He's a madman. A MADMAN!" />
If you’re playing and then someone arrives late (Looking at YOU Nightsage, Hagrid!

) then you can just duck back to the name input screen and add new people for the frey. And if you’re up to smash but want to pass a round, you’re free to do that too.
<img src="/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/various17_071211g-l.jpg" alt="Got to use the little Mountain Climbers room" />

<blockquote>
Even with numerous controllers and dozens of people lined up to play, youâ€™ll be good to go if you use this mode!
… … Well, not quite.
Rotation is limited to 16 players. Mm hmm.
</blockquote>
Oh Sakurai! Ho ho ho!

Savage Wario · Dec 11, 2007

not to shabby for people with a lot of friends ^_^

Panda_Convoy · Dec 11, 2007

The first thing I said to myself when I saw this update was "Honestly, he really has thought of everything..." I don't think I've ever seen this kind of feature in a party game that only allowed for up to 4 players at a time. This sort of thing actually is a problem with me and my friends gathering in groups of 5 to 8 at times, having to always pass controllers and switch profiles constantly. This is simply magnificent.

Tryptomine · Dec 11, 2007

Not the greatest update, but this is a small but extremely nice feature to have. The game really seems to be filled with these tiny but nice details, which definately bodes well for the end result.

RikyuXz.~ · Dec 11, 2007

This update will be useful at parties or possibly the day brawl comes out (so many of my friends from church will be begging to come to my house...) But for the majority of the time, I won't be using it.

Nonetheless, props to you Masahiro Sakurai, you HAVE thought of everything.

(Nate beheildorf, i know you're on this site somewhere...)

edit: @tryptomine: psh, this is the whole reason why he delayed the release: to own all the little faults and details that follow this game. he wanted to polish it up, and he's doing a good job of it.

Ridley FTB!!! · Dec 11, 2007

i didnt really like this update.....i has only 3 other friend who pose a threat to me in smash and its mainly them i play against as the rest cant handle being costantly defeated....but however this would be useful at partys etc so yay this really help.

bluethree · Dec 11, 2007

I usually play Melee in the lounge at school with a bunch of other people. This feature would be incredibly useful.

quithas · Dec 11, 2007

Sweet

I like it when you and misto do the updates. I like your cool comments with the pics. chill kinda sucks cause he doesnt do that. Sorry chill.

gamer8 · Dec 11, 2007

I'm done with these lousy updates!

Erimir · Dec 11, 2007

It's a nice feature. It's useful in many situations, especially parties. It's not the sort of thing many developers would've thought to include. But we all know it's not really the sort of update we were hoping for.

I'd be happy to see updates like this (not exciting, but at least actually new info) again, if he would at least give us something truly interesting this week.

Fanewgie · Dec 11, 2007

I'll paraphrase what I said in the prediction thread; I don't recall exactly what I said and don't wanna hunt for it. Regardless this is the right place for it.

The Good:

- 'twasn't an E4A rehash.
- Purty game UI. Bonus points for not having non-sensical icons slapped onto things like in the With Anyone menus.
- I always liked this mode in Melee. It really does help set up some sort of realistic rotation that encourages actual serious gameplay instead of "I want to play because I win" and "I don't want to play because I lose". It's a good idea in theory, and way way better than tournament mode.

The Bad:

- A rehashed game mode from Melee.
- Nothing new about the mode. Fail. ~~They couldn't even be arsed with actually letting you add new players without starting completely over. Double fail.~~ (upon further observation I noticed that this statement is untrue)
- The gaping fault with this game mode is that you actually need more than 4 players to get it to work. I can count on one hand how many times I had actually accomplished this with Melee; it was back in high school when I had roughly twice the friends I do now and I still only managed to scrounge up as little as 6 players. I had to force people to play to achieve this number too.

The Ugly:

- Why do they avoid showing us how you go about selecting your character? This worries me that while they went to the trouble of registering your name and control, that they did something as stupid as having you assign a static character. One of Loser Out's best features was being able to pick a handicap character when you've been in the spotlight for too long. (after putting more thought into things, I wonder if they were dodging showing the roster to avoid revealing more than they wanted to)
- No mention of the return of the Ditto wildcard. Uber Triple ****ing Fail.

Fawriel · Dec 11, 2007

Well, that's a cute little update. Nobody should want to complain about this one, right?

RikyuXz.~ · Dec 11, 2007

Fawriel said:
Well, that's a cute little update. Nobody should want to complain about this one, right?

Apparently, wrong ==" There's always at least 1 person who complains about the update if it ain't a character update... Well actually there could be someone realistically that could complain about a character update.. but w/e.

quithas said:
I like it when you and misto do the updates. I like your cool comments with the pics. chill kinda sucks cause he doesnt do that. Sorry chill.

OUCH. Chill is gonna ban you man lol :laugh:

Erimir · Dec 11, 2007

Wait, I don't remember this mode in Melee. How do you get to that?

I mean, I know you can just do it manually, but...

SirPainsalot · Dec 11, 2007

... Wow.. Just goes to show Sakurai really HAS thought of everything.... All we have left now most likely is character updates and Subspace Emissary videos.... Not to mention a few E4ALL stuff.

Misto-Roboto · Dec 11, 2007

quithas said:
I like it when you and misto do the updates. I like your cool comments with the pics. chill kinda sucks cause he doesnt do that. Sorry chill.

I love you guys when I see comments like this, sorry Chill.

M.K · Dec 11, 2007

What...a useless update.

It's new, it's fresh, but I'm sorry, I JUST don't see many uses for it. I don't need a mode to decide who is going to play, I'm not stupid.

Fawriel · Dec 11, 2007

Meta-Kirby. D=

...Meta-Kirby. D=

Meta-Kirby! ;_;

Oh, by the way. The second alt text was amazing. You rock, Mic.

RikyuXz.~ said:
Apparently, wrong ==" There's always at least 1 person who complains about the update if it ain't a character update... Well actually there could be someone realistically that could complain about a character update.. but w/e.

I know I will complain about the Captain Falcon update. =D

Big-Cat · Dec 11, 2007

I really see no constant use for this. On the bright side, this at least shows that Sakurai is concerned not only about the game, but the player(s) as well.

Jumpinjahosafa · Dec 11, 2007

Kinda cool, me and my friends play like this all the time anyway, now we can actually keep track without argument..

The classic "Its my game! I keep the controller!" XD

Yeah.. 17-18 year olds still pull that...

Meta-Kirby said:
What...a useless update.

It's new, it's fresh, but I'm sorry, I JUST don't see many uses for it. I don't need a mode to decide who is going to play, I'm not stupid.

Don't have more than 3 friends?

Vadorojo · Dec 11, 2007

Fanewgie said:
The Bad:
- The gaping fault with this game mode is that you actually need more than 4 players to get it to work. I can count on one hand how many times I had actually accomplished this with Melee; it was back in high school when I had roughly twice the friends I do now and I still only managed to scrounge up as little as 6 players. I had to force people to play to achieve this number too.

I believe you're mistaken. Sakurai selected "4" as the number of players per round, so obviously, he had to have at least 5-16 entrants for rotation mode to work. If you selected 2 per round (as the side arrow on the "how many players" would seem to indicate is possible), I'm sure you can select anywhere from 3-16 participants.

CHAOSDRAGON88 · Dec 11, 2007

All i need is the confirmation of sheik and then i am happy. this was a good update eventhough my friends know the protocal.

bballstar23 · Dec 11, 2007

Are people viewing this more as a waste of a mode, or more as a waste of an update? Either way, I thought it was pretty cool to see something new for once.

TheGlitchMaster · Dec 11, 2007

meh. that's all i say. it's not amazing.

Crescent · Dec 11, 2007

This feature was in Melee, people. It was bound to return at some point.
Even so, it's a great feature for people with a lot of friends. Not my favorite update ever, but it was a good one.

Athos · Dec 11, 2007

This is only 1 level above bonesly. I think its kind of dumb personally, because my friends and I, even when we have more people rotate out upon what we think is fair, not what the game thinks.

Xiroey2 · Dec 11, 2007

[edited for privacy]

Nothingman · Dec 11, 2007

i guess its a nifty little feature

but to be honest, im sure people will try it once, but then eventually just get lazy and every time after just go to the regular vs mode like they're used and just pass the **** controller when they lose

i guess if everyone has weird button configs...

pretty boring update though to be honest

edit: Dam, didnt know you cant say dam

Nothingman · Dec 11, 2007

oh, this mode was available in brawl under "tournament mode" for those who never found it. it wasnt exactly the same as brawls, but served the same purpose

sodacova · Dec 11, 2007

This was already in Melee (under Tournament Melee), so I don't understand why people are praising this like it's a new feature. The only difference here is that now a player can decide to sit out of a match with the "take a break" option.

The trouble with this mode is that you don't have access to the character select screen when you play, so if you want to change characters before a match you have to cycle through them all one by one. Obviously Brawl is going to have more characters than Melee so this would only be worse.

lilparadise · Dec 11, 2007

How do these people think of this stuff, oh wait... their Japanese.

joeysmash · Dec 11, 2007

though maybe not an earth shattering update, at least its new. I like new better then rehased crap.

Santini · Dec 11, 2007

What an utterly useless mode. I think my friends and I are smart enough to figure out who should leave. I am upset it's taking up game space.

Chi's Finest · Dec 11, 2007

When I first read it I was like wtf, but now that I think about it, it was an alright update.

Xenesis · Dec 11, 2007

Heh.

A fantastic update. This'll be wonderful for when I play with my friends, especially as it forces the winner/loser out optionally.

Seiya · Dec 11, 2007

I think it's a wonderful update. It's going to help me when I use SSBB at the Boys & Girls Club in the game room(I work in) Silly young teens still not smart enough to hand the controller to each other without yelling ._.

00Elf · Dec 11, 2007

Honestly, I didn't even know that this was in Melee. I might use it once or twice.

IllidR · Dec 11, 2007

Pretty good update, I know me and my friends find ourselves in that situation often so having a set rotation would be good.

Fawriel · Dec 11, 2007

Santini said:
What an utterly useless mode. I think my friends and I are smart enough to figure out who should leave. I am upset it's taking up game space.

Let me introduce you to CDs. CDs are wonderful little things that contain lots and lots of information. Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes on one CD. Contrary to popular belief, it does not come on a set of 500 diskettes.

Homelessvagrant · Dec 11, 2007

I noticed how badly Chill lost in posting this compared to Mic (Lols)

Rotation, Rotation: The Circle of Smash

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