Besides the obvious stuff I'd like to see an actual change. I was thinking of a mahvel-esque tag team battle where you pick two characters and pull off awesome hand offs with any two characters the way ice climbers work. Not controlling both characters but switching between them as well as calling on them while in shield or when you grab someone
Like this idea(pairing chars with instant or timed switching) since it's the only one suggesting a radical change that if done well could add a whole new layer of counterpicking and combo strategies to the game). Could also become a seperate mode though but it would be interesting if they used this pair idea as their base and see where it got them. Could also see this work with 4 players swapping in.
I've been thinking about possible changes you could make to smash for quite a while but it's hard since melee felt so perfect and brawl felt so off. I think I kinda like the complexity as it is and prefer the way melee is set up (fast paced, smart combo driven in your face battles). Air grabs would be the first thing on my mind as a possible usefull addition to the basic moveset but that's really just another way of gimping. In that sense I really hope smash 4 doesn't break stuff that already works over attempting to fix stuff and implementing stuff that doesn't work.
What I'd desire from a near perfect Smash 4 would be the following:
0. ACTIVE COMMUNICATION WITH AND QA DONE BY IMPORTANT QUALIFIED MEMBERS IN THE COMPETITIVE SMASH COMMUNITY
(m2k testing is a good start, but there exist a lot more and this community has more then proven that it's healthy, has a incredible competitive passion and desire to be recognized as a professional e-sport, is resourcefull and experienced. It would be foolish for nintendo to not engage with it more since it can only help their public image and benefit the gamedesign.)
VITAL
1. Responsive frame precise fast split second always consistent input handling (no annoying buffering, lagged inputs etc), fast paced (could be faster then melee).
2. Chars should feel solid with a firm grounding, should have a certain weight to them (not like they are are metal while walking on ice, unless that fit's the char)
3. Obvious inclusion of the most popular basic movement and AT's (Wave dashing, dash dancing, wavelanding etc). Melee air dodge system (possibly mixed with braws eg first one before land on ground is directional rest is non directional)
4. Really good controll over positioning on the stage and positioning in the air.
5. Prefer fallspeed weight and speed of melee. Possibly even faster. Don't prefer the floaty feel unless it's char specific.
6. DI properly implemented (smash DI, survival DI etc)
HIGHLY PREFERRED
3. No tripping and by that I mean randomized factors that can affect the outcome extremely minimized or with an option to turn off. Randomized factors should never influence your basic movement decisions (like jumping or walk instead of running due to possible trip).
4. Practise should make perfect. By that I mean you need to be able to practise AT's with a clear effect on your characters controllability, speed etc. Practise should expand your options (not taken literally, I don't mean unlocking movesets or stat modifications). Like to be able to discover new AT's by researching the options available to me.
5. Opportunity to have both fast paced matches as slow well planned mindgamy heavy read based matches.
6. Should cater to both defensive and agressive etc playstyles. Don't prefer a campy, spammy direction.
7. Extremely well balanced considering all different playstyles (extremely difficult so should check with qualified members of community). Should aim to make every char competitive viable and feel unique, could also take possible counterpick chars in consideration that fit same playstyles.
8. No near optimal strategies like wobbling etc (really hard to prevent so check with Qualified members of community when nerf is required).
9. Rewarding situations (combo opportunity's, string of hits etc) when exploitinging openings. This annoyed me in brawl in which there is too much opportunity to escape comboes through airdodges + low hitstun and thus each hit results in a counter situation.
9. The ledge game rethinked and improved (deeper strategies, less opportunity for easy low risk gimps, more opportunity for risky gimps). Here's a radical idea. Remove the ledge invincibility on grab during fall, maintain ledge invincibility during roll, get up, or when grabbed during a special move. Ledge grab limit (possibly tweakable)
10. Game should feel cool and professional, not childish. Honoring the nintendo legacy is fine but should be done in a way that the graphic style fits a competitive e-sport. I prefer the darker tone melee had.
11. Tested to reduce obvious would be banned stalling tactics etc. Game should encourage confrontation not avoidance.
12. Stage layout designed to take stagecounterpicking into account. Shouldn't feel to similar but also should feel balanced. Possible optimal strategies extremely minimized.
13. Usefull addition to the air game like air grabs. More opportunity for interesting mixups in the air.
14. Proper training mode that matches perfectly with versus mode (controls etc) with a frame by frame option and frame numbers.
17. L-Cancelling could be there but I'd prefer a different benefit to when you don't l-cancel a move (thus chose the lag). Then it becomes a decision and not just a obvious gateway when attempting to connect combos.
18. Stage glitches like battlefields minimized.
19. Char moves should feel like they have impact in both sfx and fx and animation. Prefer the ones in melee.
Would be cool:
1. A tournament menu that is approved by important tourney TO's. Possibly even closed - beta tested through a small tourney.
2. Proper online support with leaderboards, matchmaking, match finding and of course almost no lag.
3. Option to manage rumble feature for names in char selection menu.
4. Usefull system for stage banning - possibly even controlled by one central wii-u in the tournament room so the TO can ensure each wii-u is setup correctly.
5. Best off system ( would prevent having to ask a TO if it's Bo5 or Bo3) - same idea with TO controlling this with one central wii-u
6. Dave's stupid rule implemented with option to use?
7. Better recording options (offer cutting controlls), possible to direct upload to youtube?
8. Option to specify certain part of replay (if your just looking to save a interesting combo), proper organisation options.
9. Option to reveal Hitboxes and other vital information. The less we have to hack to find the information we're looking for the better.
10. Usefull additions to the shield system, help to escape shield pressure etc. Possibly even options to use offensively.
11. Possibly some interesting additions to the throw options. (angled throws, charged throws, charged slaps etc)
12. Cube Controller support - not gonna happen... :'(. Wired USB controller support in the least.
14. Ability to equip (x) amount of weapons/items before a match. Prefer Non char specific (although that could work to)
13. Crowds that actually know when to start cheering XD
What it shouldn't have:
1. The current starfox char designs
Then of course a well thought out versatile cast like everyones mentioning. Maintain the regular cast, add new ones that would fit with the games system.
And the other obvious stuff like matching sfx, music, environment design etc. Pretty confident they can realize a interesting roster. It's their understanding and support of the competitive aspects of smash that I'm worried about.
Your mostly likely gonna sign a NDA before testing so you wont be able to give us any info and impressions I suspect but I wish you good luck M2K! If you could at least get across the most vital information and point out obvious flaws you encounter that'd be great!
