Smash 4 introduces the following 15 new characters to the series, not counting the 3 clones:
Characters in Smash usually have 25 base attacks, not accounting for oddball stuff like multi-phase specials (Timber, Bonus Fruit), specials that are unique in the air, KO Punch, and things like ledge/wakeup attacks or item throws.
Additionally, Smash 4 not only changed several existing normal moves significantly (like on Bowser and Yoshi), but also added some new moves to existing characters entirely:
This is just the tip of the iceberg though. There is also the full spread of defensive options for each new character (dodges, rolls, ect.) and the intricate details of each one's unique movement physics. Then you've got the complex unique gimmicks some of the characters have, like Little Mac, Shulk, and Rosalina.
Simply put, this is unreasonable for competitive play on multiple levels. Let's go over why:
Too Difficult To Learn
Competitive players spend an incredible amount of time honing their skills and learning their game. Smash is already a very difficult game to master, and adding 384 entirely new moves into the mix is overwhelming.
We are already having to learn an entirely new game engine, with new physics and hitbox properties across the existing cast. And now competitive players are expected to also have to learn all these new moves and characters? It's just not reasonable, and will not lead to a metagame of rich mastery.
For example, Melee has thrived because most players only had to focus on learning a handful of characters, moves, and matchups. Not only were their fewer character, but those safely outside high tier could be largely ignored. As an example, look how awful it was when asma's Yoshi performed so highly at Apex this year. Now competitive players will also have to divide their time to learn more about a previously overlooked character, and the competitive scene will surely suffer as a result. Asma's Yoshi was the worst thing to happen to Melee in a long time, and an ill-omen for it's competitive future.
And that's just one unexpected character. Why should competitive players have to accept 15 entirely new ones?
Too Difficult To Practice
Even if I am willing to put in the time and effort to learn all this new stuff, what if no one in my area players some of the new characters, or fails to master certain traits or moves they have? I would not be able to adequately prepare for competition.
Some people might claim that this is no different from not have practice against certain existing characters, or even that it is a good thing for competitors to encounter unexpected tactics. To refute this, I point again to asma's Yoshi; an unfair entrant which basically killed all hype and sense of legitimacy for Melee at Apex.
Unknown Changes To The Metagame
The fact is, we don't know what these new characters and their moves do. We don't know how they will affect the metagame we have spent years developing. That's just a fact.
Sure, some people have messed around with them. Some people have uploaded videos of them to YouTube, or streamed a game or two. Some people have even held tourneys in which the new characters are allowed.
I look at new characters like how I look at items. Implementing changes the meta entirely. We are no longer playing the same Smash 4.
But the truth is we won't know exactly what true impact these characters will have for years to come.
The Metagame Will Become More Defensive
Let me tell you exactly what true impact these characters will have. They are going to make the game more defensive.
Rosalina, Palutena, Pac-Man, DHD, WFT, Villager, Mega Man, and Gunner are all extremely campy characters. Allowing these in competitive play seems like a really terribly idea to me.
Some people claim that other characters, like Little Mac, are very aggressive and result in fast games. That remains to be seen. The bottom line is, why would you take the risk of letting people play campy characters in a tourney?
Real Talk: We should be banning character with unpopular playstyles, not adding more.
The New Characters Might Be Broken
It's very likely that some of the new characters are broken and would ruin competitive balance.
I've seen some really janky and broken stuff some some of the new characters. Stuff that is just obviously unfair, or superior to moves on old characters. Rosalina's Luma is broken. Shulk's Monado stuff is broken. Little Mac's KO Punch is broken. WFT's Deep Breathing is sort of useable. Pac-Man's hydrant is broken. I could go on...
No one has a real idea of what balance will look like if you allow these characters.
Adds More Time Between Matches
Tournaments are already too long, and time wasted at the character select screen between matches is a non-trivial factor. Adding even more choices will only ramp up the analysis paralysis in multiple ways.
First, the time spent deciding on a character will increase. Even for people who continue to use their old character, it will be ever-so-slightly harder to locate and find them. This might only seem like 1 or 2 extra seconds, but across an entire event, that sort of thing could add up to half a minute or more. Are we really willing to pay that cost?
Second, counter-picking gets more complicated. With so many more options, it's bound to take ages longer.
Third, coaching will take longer because coaches will have more things to talk about players with. Obviously coaching is a crucial component of competitive play and needs to be allowed fully and unrestricted, but that doesn't mean we should make it take even longer.
Smash 4 Doesn't Need New Characters To Be Competitive
If it ain't broke, why fix it?
Melee was a fine game with only 25 characters, and Brawl was a fine game with only 39. There is nothing to suggest that adding more characters automatically makes the game better.
More importantly, someone who doesn't like Smash 4 with only 33 characters isn't going to like it with 48. So why bother?
It's Too Risky To Run At EVO
Take everything I've said so far, and now think about how EVO is a HUGE opportunity for the Smash 4 scene. I really want the event to go well, and for the scene to show up strong. Standard works.
Like, new characters could be allowed for regionals. Community nationals. Maybe even Apex. But NOT our first EVO. It's a big opportunity.
Besides, EVO is in just 150 days from the time of this post. Compared to the 97 days the game has been out, that's basically nothing. We can't just suddenly pivot and change what we are doing 150 days from now. I could understand if we had a full 3-4 months to prepare, but 150 days is way too short.
It's Just Too Soon
All these points add up to one common conclusion: It's just too soon.
Look, I'm not against new characters. But it's a timing issue. Now is not the time for them, simple as that. I told everyone at release that we should wait a few months to see, and now we should wait a few months more, and then maybe another year. Eventually we can start adding perhaps one character a year, if people agree.
Alternatively, I'm totally fine with people running new character side-events. But it shouldn't be part of the main event, for all the reasons stated.
I realize I might seem like a wet-blanket in all of this, but I'm just trying to be a voice of reason and prevent people with good intentions from splitting the community and damaging the game's future as a legitimate e-sport. Just consider this game's future, and say no to these new characters and their 384 new moves. Let's continue playing the real game, in which these are safely excluded.
Sincerely hoping for the best competitive future for Smash 4,
-Diddy Kong
Characters in Smash usually have 25 base attacks, not accounting for oddball stuff like multi-phase specials (Timber, Bonus Fruit), specials that are unique in the air, KO Punch, and things like ledge/wakeup attacks or item throws.
Additionally, Smash 4 not only changed several existing normal moves significantly (like on Bowser and Yoshi), but also added some new moves to existing characters entirely:
- Phantom Slash
- Bouncing Fish
- Boost Kick
- zair
- Upperdash Arm
- Guardian Orbitars
- Gordo Toss
- Flare Blitz
- Flying Pikmin
This is just the tip of the iceberg though. There is also the full spread of defensive options for each new character (dodges, rolls, ect.) and the intricate details of each one's unique movement physics. Then you've got the complex unique gimmicks some of the characters have, like Little Mac, Shulk, and Rosalina.
Simply put, this is unreasonable for competitive play on multiple levels. Let's go over why:
Too Difficult To Learn
Competitive players spend an incredible amount of time honing their skills and learning their game. Smash is already a very difficult game to master, and adding 384 entirely new moves into the mix is overwhelming.
We are already having to learn an entirely new game engine, with new physics and hitbox properties across the existing cast. And now competitive players are expected to also have to learn all these new moves and characters? It's just not reasonable, and will not lead to a metagame of rich mastery.
For example, Melee has thrived because most players only had to focus on learning a handful of characters, moves, and matchups. Not only were their fewer character, but those safely outside high tier could be largely ignored. As an example, look how awful it was when asma's Yoshi performed so highly at Apex this year. Now competitive players will also have to divide their time to learn more about a previously overlooked character, and the competitive scene will surely suffer as a result. Asma's Yoshi was the worst thing to happen to Melee in a long time, and an ill-omen for it's competitive future.
And that's just one unexpected character. Why should competitive players have to accept 15 entirely new ones?
Too Difficult To Practice
Even if I am willing to put in the time and effort to learn all this new stuff, what if no one in my area players some of the new characters, or fails to master certain traits or moves they have? I would not be able to adequately prepare for competition.
Some people might claim that this is no different from not have practice against certain existing characters, or even that it is a good thing for competitors to encounter unexpected tactics. To refute this, I point again to asma's Yoshi; an unfair entrant which basically killed all hype and sense of legitimacy for Melee at Apex.
Unknown Changes To The Metagame
The fact is, we don't know what these new characters and their moves do. We don't know how they will affect the metagame we have spent years developing. That's just a fact.
Sure, some people have messed around with them. Some people have uploaded videos of them to YouTube, or streamed a game or two. Some people have even held tourneys in which the new characters are allowed.
I look at new characters like how I look at items. Implementing changes the meta entirely. We are no longer playing the same Smash 4.
But the truth is we won't know exactly what true impact these characters will have for years to come.
The Metagame Will Become More Defensive
Let me tell you exactly what true impact these characters will have. They are going to make the game more defensive.
Rosalina, Palutena, Pac-Man, DHD, WFT, Villager, Mega Man, and Gunner are all extremely campy characters. Allowing these in competitive play seems like a really terribly idea to me.
Some people claim that other characters, like Little Mac, are very aggressive and result in fast games. That remains to be seen. The bottom line is, why would you take the risk of letting people play campy characters in a tourney?
Real Talk: We should be banning character with unpopular playstyles, not adding more.
The New Characters Might Be Broken
It's very likely that some of the new characters are broken and would ruin competitive balance.
I've seen some really janky and broken stuff some some of the new characters. Stuff that is just obviously unfair, or superior to moves on old characters. Rosalina's Luma is broken. Shulk's Monado stuff is broken. Little Mac's KO Punch is broken. WFT's Deep Breathing is sort of useable. Pac-Man's hydrant is broken. I could go on...
No one has a real idea of what balance will look like if you allow these characters.
Adds More Time Between Matches
Tournaments are already too long, and time wasted at the character select screen between matches is a non-trivial factor. Adding even more choices will only ramp up the analysis paralysis in multiple ways.
First, the time spent deciding on a character will increase. Even for people who continue to use their old character, it will be ever-so-slightly harder to locate and find them. This might only seem like 1 or 2 extra seconds, but across an entire event, that sort of thing could add up to half a minute or more. Are we really willing to pay that cost?
Second, counter-picking gets more complicated. With so many more options, it's bound to take ages longer.
Third, coaching will take longer because coaches will have more things to talk about players with. Obviously coaching is a crucial component of competitive play and needs to be allowed fully and unrestricted, but that doesn't mean we should make it take even longer.
Smash 4 Doesn't Need New Characters To Be Competitive
If it ain't broke, why fix it?
Melee was a fine game with only 25 characters, and Brawl was a fine game with only 39. There is nothing to suggest that adding more characters automatically makes the game better.
More importantly, someone who doesn't like Smash 4 with only 33 characters isn't going to like it with 48. So why bother?
It's Too Risky To Run At EVO
Take everything I've said so far, and now think about how EVO is a HUGE opportunity for the Smash 4 scene. I really want the event to go well, and for the scene to show up strong. Standard works.
Like, new characters could be allowed for regionals. Community nationals. Maybe even Apex. But NOT our first EVO. It's a big opportunity.
Besides, EVO is in just 150 days from the time of this post. Compared to the 97 days the game has been out, that's basically nothing. We can't just suddenly pivot and change what we are doing 150 days from now. I could understand if we had a full 3-4 months to prepare, but 150 days is way too short.
It's Just Too Soon
All these points add up to one common conclusion: It's just too soon.
Look, I'm not against new characters. But it's a timing issue. Now is not the time for them, simple as that. I told everyone at release that we should wait a few months to see, and now we should wait a few months more, and then maybe another year. Eventually we can start adding perhaps one character a year, if people agree.
Alternatively, I'm totally fine with people running new character side-events. But it shouldn't be part of the main event, for all the reasons stated.
I realize I might seem like a wet-blanket in all of this, but I'm just trying to be a voice of reason and prevent people with good intentions from splitting the community and damaging the game's future as a legitimate e-sport. Just consider this game's future, and say no to these new characters and their 384 new moves. Let's continue playing the real game, in which these are safely excluded.
Sincerely hoping for the best competitive future for Smash 4,
-Diddy Kong
