A Neat Gameplay Concept - I Think

[CAB77]

So didn't Sakurai say something about making the game more customizable? I'm not sure if that only applied to things you could import from the 3DS version or if it means altering characters or control schemes through name tags. But assuming it does mean super customizable name tags (as in layouts held under each registered player name) I have a cool idea!

What if you could decide whether or not you wanted air dodges or air shields? Having an air shield would be neat and offer a different playstyle. Shields would work basically the same in the air as they do on the ground, except you can't role, dodge, or control your movement as you go. They would allow characters like TL and Peach to shield a projectile/heavy attack or shield/ retaliate with a projectie of their own.

An idea I had on a spur of the moment and thought I'd share. I'm not sure how applicable it would be in competitive play, that is if it were as useful or effective (or not too overpowered).

What if other aspects of technical gameplay could be tweaked or altered, all for individual players under their own nametags. I guess that would possibly make for a more cast-system based competitive scene, and I dunno if that is a good or bad thing.

Just an idea I had! What do you guys think?

 

[Big-Cat]

Cool concept, but it's very, very bad in the long run. You can't expect them to balance for all the various tweaks and everything. You'll just end up where these settings are for the best version of that character.

 

[Ove]

Air Shield? Not in Smash, it just wouldn't work. To be honest, I think they should remove air dodge completely. That would make you more vulnerable in the air, resulting in a more ground based gameplay.

In Street Fighter IV, you will eat Anti Airs all day if you mindlessly abuse your air game. Also, it worked just fine in Smash 64.

 

[Big-Cat]

I think what might be cool if you remove air dodging is to turn it into air dashes.

 

[Ove]

Yeah, that would definitely be cool and one way to make Smash 4 stand out from its predecessors.

 

[Amazing Ampharos]

The air based game is the main appeal of smash, and it's hardly mindless given that unlike in Street Fighter your mobility options are not really worse in the air than on the ground. Spatial control in smash is over the full 2d plane, not just over a 1d line with a limited 2d component like most traditional fighters, and that's a lot of the source of smash's depth.

The problem with an air shield is simple though. It's uncounterable. Air dodging can be baited and punished. Since most characters don't have air grabs though, most characters have no answer at all to an air shield other than just to wait for them to land and then try to punish which isn't very good gameplay. Adding a universal air grab could be interesting itself, but by that point you've now designed the whole game around what you want to be an optional subsystem. I think some moveset customization is inevitable here, but it's a really hard thing from a design perspective since it's really hard to avoid obviously optimal load-outs with the ultimate effect that with too many elements to attempt to balance you can end up leaving some characters, mechanics, etc. really far behind in the dust by trying to include too much. This sort of thing has been done before with mixed success though (CvS2's groove system worked very well for it really even if the "cost" was that half that game's cast was really garbage), and I'm not opposed to general customization principles in smash especially since fighting game design teams have gotten much better at balance than they used to be.