Smashboards

NO WACKY PARTY GAME SHOULD HAVE A MONOCHROME SERIF FONT LOGO

Admitedly, I'm not too hung up on serif fonts in the logos, but this has way more personality.


Anyway, these are all valid points; Smash as a whole is going through an identity crisis (at least with Ultimate; these issues are less prominent in Wii U/3DS backwards IMO), and while I don't really care if it goes full serious or full "goofiness" (not sure if that's the right word to use even with this vision, but w/e), but it should really pick one and go with it.

(i don't see additions being influenced by marketability ending any time soon though, corporations gotta corporation)

Perfectly balanced as it should be

I hope this is bait, since both "points" are not only untrue but also denote Smash's strongest points (also being selfaware and wacky are things the series is and it doesnt mean winking to the audience and being cringey, Im glad they dont do this and disrespect the fans by being ****e on purpose as if thats a good thing, thats a sign of a BAD game if they do it).

"Caring" too much about even minor details and minutia is why the quality level of Smash is considered so top quality, and its considered such a caring tribute to games, theres a visible effort and love going into each roster addition and it shows, same with most stages and even items. And saying the series is never self-aware or weird is a cowardly lie: theres tons of wacky modes and stages and adding dramatic flare to it (which is much better than adding memes for the twitter hashtags or showing no care for depicting characters just because "they are silly, so I can be a hack fraud and pick a secondary meme instead of the protag, or give them nothing to do with their original story, or base his moves on a meme, or just copy melee and pay ecelebs instead of putting features in the game", this is hack fraud talk, dramaticism if anything makes things weirder in the best way as every type of genre and series melds together in a symphony of variety and straigh up fun).

And about the second "point", focusing only on competitive is a sure fire way to flop the project as its meant to everybody, and yet they added tons of comp friendly features over the years, not to mention Ultimate is one of the best balanced fighting games, which would be a big deal even if the roster wasnt gigantic. And the thing about characters is a straigh up lie: they DO add many characters with their moveset potential in mind (Robin, some of the pokemon, Duck Hunt etc) just because the character also needs to matter and represent something doesnt take their move potential, it only means they arent hack whod add a nobody just because a dev felt like it (funny how poor Sakurai gets harassed for "hating" series by petulant fans who dont like the choices, but then those fans want literal memes and their nitpicks to be added instead of iconic representatives).

And saying the character doesnt get added with their place in an ultimate crossover in mind is an even bigger, weirder lie, that feels on pair with what Id see a sony fan talking about the xbox in a juvenile consolewar "debate" from the early 10's... literally every character in the roster has their place for a reason or another, and the amount of iconic names and series, from the Nintendo ones to the likes of Tekken to even Minecraft who made it is off the chart, not to mention the overall representation with other features making it a true ultimate crossover, and all of this with an attention to detail and respect to their series that puts Smash above the rest. Petulant fans always trick themselves that Smash is only popular because of the crossover when crossover were a thing before and later and most dont get close to its appeal: the reason its popular its because its well-made, and part of it includes their game philosophy (attention to detail, adding characters based on their movesets and place in the roster despite your lie but also their iconicity, the grandiose that comes with the story modes and bosses, etc)

Compare that to certain cashgrabs like how Shaggy was ruined into a dead meme instead of respecting his real character to please twitter memers, or how the sony crossover lacked funds to get proper all-stars since most ps all stars are third party, or like the worse of all: the flopped shovelware one that has the gall to pretend they care for nick icons when iconic characters are missing, replaced by memes, dev favorites and characters that were "easier" to make fighting (the type of laziness that would gurantee Animal Crossing or Duck Hunt would never had spots), they even disrespect Jimmy Neutron despite both his moveset potential, iconicity, fitting in crossovers and marketability and add his dad first over a dead meme nobody remembered. All while lacking care down to lack of voices and core issues + unbalanced and bland movesets everywhere + ugly models etc. Thats unforgivabe, imagine if Kirby wasnt in smash but they added a small Whispy Woods over a meme, Jimmy is an actual icon and got busted by a bad meme. Theres a reason why Smash is considered a legendary series and its not due genre or even crossover appeal as multiple companies had crossovers of all sorts before that: its done with care and skill, and it shows. The characters move like they came from their games, their moves exude personality, their stages have references, its a true masterpiece, its why Smash is big after decades.

I also dont see any "identity issue" like other said, when the series core has been respected from start: mixing series like Mario with progressively more serious and weird ones creates an unique environment just like with Kingdom Hearts and acting like it needs to be babified or too silly or too serious for that is ridiculous, thats like someone pretending KH cant have serious moments just cause Donald is in, cant have goofy moments cause Sephiroth is in it, or that having either is an "identity issue" when that mix IS the identity from start, this feels like insecure americans that are scared to like weird videogames so everything needs to be "ironic" and winking at the audience because you fear being seen as childish for liking weird things, but japanese games dont have that "insecurity" issue that makes americans think everything needs to be hard ironic or hard serious, japanese games have always been weird and nothing shows it best than Mario himself being the way he is.

When I see such strange nitpicks and "complaints" about the series where its clear theres actually no complaints but just an attempt to dig negativity from nothing, I get really glad that Nintendo's feedback doesnt come from dedicated sites since anyone who plays smash wouldnt be saying such weird things like the series characters should be memes instead of iconic or that the series should only cater to one style of player or theming, their variety and broadness is key to the appeal.