I like to make the comparison of SFIV and Third Strike being what Brawl became of Melee. I do have local friends that do play SF competitively though, so one day, I will learn. . . One day. El oh el.
I'm very much into Guilty Gear (excited to play the new update). I did play Blaz Blue, but fell off since they had constant patch updates to characters. Now I'm just basic, and don't play anymore. Had a great stretch with TvC, enjoy playing UMvC3 (although I fell off of practice), and occasional SFxT.
I didn't fall off of Smash completely, but I did to the Brawl competitive scene. I was a pretty high-level player back in 2009 / 2010, entering tournaments, etc. But, I was inconsistent in placings. The reason being (no johns, just facts) was because of Metaknight. I lost to a Mk just about every tournament. I can recall one that I didn't play against him, and placed 5th (high level players including a defeat to IcyLight, losing 2-1 to Bloodcross (Falco), and losing 2-1 to Bizkit (Snake)). Then the very next tournament I attended, I lost to (literally) a random Mk, bye round, then lost to Hayoto. Case in point, it was getting annoying. Not losing to Mk, just alway playing against them, because the metagame completely deteriorated, and continues to deteriorate because of one character.
I did consider coming back to the scene, just for fun, but idk. . . We'll see. Haven't tourneyd since GROAT (included ally, allied, atomsk, etc), which I placed 17th at (should've been at least 13th, but that's another story, xD). SSB64 is the best Smash game ever.