A tournament story: "controllerism"

[Guillaume1987]

Not sure if it goes there, but since It's tournament related...Here I go.
I attended a local smash tournament this weekend and something unexpected happened regarding controller choices, or if you prefer, how people react to my controller choice.

See, saturday I went to the local tournament and there was 50 participants. They all had gamecube controllers. I don't question their choice, smash and gc controller goes so well together. But I am not a fan of gc controller anymore. See, I play smash every day in the train while I'M going to work and I got so used to the 3ds that I am way better using the 3ds than the gc controller. When I get home, I'll play smash wiiu using my 3ds when against friends.

What I Was not expecting though was how looked down upon and literally laughed at I would be bringing my 3ds as a controller to play in a tournament. People approached me asking me how I Was planning to win using a 3ds. Some asked me if I was New to smash and explained how competitive smash is different from playing againSt computer.

I Was considered to be easy food for the rest of the competitors until they saw my first, second, third and all the rest of my matches up until freaking top4 (patting myself in the back) went in my favor.

The fact that they thought I Was ******** and bad for using a N3ds might have played in my favor, but still. I Was expecting to be looked at because of my controller choice, but not to the extent of being almost bullied lol.

That Was entertaining. I am Pretty sure my experience was the exception to the rule but, is anyone else has a story around controller choice in a tournament or in general? I never thought controllerism was even a thing.

Controller culture! Smash with any controller!

 

[Luigi player]

Well, it's kinda a fact that you can be more precise with a different controller than the 3DS. It's of course not impossible to play well using the 3DS, but it still towns down a bit of precision.

So it makes sense that they're trying to help and find it weird, although it seems they kinda overdid it.
Just use what you like the most, it's not like others can decide that for you. From a competitive standpoint it seems you're limiting yourself a little bit, though.

I think this thread could be in the tournament discussion forum, but I'm not sure.

 

[Eggggggggggbert]

Ridicule is definitely not the answer, but there is some reasonable skepticism over someone performing well with arguable less to work with. I have a friend who is very similar, he plays 3DS Smash a lot so it is his preference. But he does use the gamecube controller to and he feels that he can do specific things better. It almost feels like you're playing a different person when he uses one versus the other. Some things are more precise through the nature of the controller, and some things are sloppy through lack of use. It's definitely a new, weird dynamic of this game, but no point starting nerd wars over it.

I basically agree with the above.

 

[Guillaume1987]

I recently started using the wiiu pro controller because it's buttons layout ressemble the 3ds the most, yet beside z buttons placed in a weird position and button customization, the 3ds offers a great controller scheme. The size of the buttons and the very short distance between one another make for Quick and precise combinations.

I might be one of the rare that find the slidepad more convenient than the joystick for tilts and movements.

I would agree with playing differently using different controllers though.

 

[TobiasXK]

keep in mind also that smashers go through controllers. it's same as any other equipment used in competition, they wear in and wear down and break. buying a new 3ds for that is very different from buying a new controller.

 

[Guillaume1987]

Yeah I can attest to that. I Was victim of the "Smash broke my slidepad" movement back in november. I then upgraded to the n3ds when it came out and it really handled smash abuse well, up until the tournament, where I started to feel that the ring inside the slide pad cracked.
I ordered some replacement parts on ebay, but I feel sorry for my 3ds.

 

[Asdioh]

Yeah I can attest to that. I Was victim of the "Smash broke my slidepad" movement back in november. I then upgraded to the n3ds when it came out and it really handled smash abuse well, up until the tournament, where I started to feel that the ring inside the slide pad cracked.
I ordered some replacement parts on ebay, but I feel sorry for my 3ds.

Besides the fact that the precision of gamecube/wiiu controllers are better, this is the main thing against 3ds controllers. I haven't touched Smash on 3ds since the WiiU version came out because I'm afraid of breaking my 3ds.
People shouldn't be jerks about it, but there are things you can't do easily/safely on 3ds, such as "perfect" pivoting or dash dance type motions, as well as the control sticks just generally being more precise.

Also I have a personal bias against wireless controllers, because I can't count the number of times ~somebody~ forgot to remove a battery/desync their controller after a match, causing an extra controller to appear on the character select screen, making matches impossible to start. This is a nationwide gripe, heh.

 

[Raijinken]

It's like using a Wiimote, or Wavebird, or just about anything. It's really entirely your choice, and they shouldn't actually mock you for it, but you have a non-subjective smaller number of options and greater cost risk, as well as greater risk of input lag and battery issues, than (correct me if I'm wrong) any other controller besides the Wiimote Sideways. If you perform best on the 3DS, that's great, but if you could use basically any other controller nearly as well, they'd be more reliable long-term choices.

Still, congrats for showing people that the controller doesn't determine skill.

 

[GSM_Dren]

Play whatever controller you want to play. Its rude that they were being quite the bully but I'm sure you shut their mouths with your good results. It is true that there's less room for error on the 3ds, but if you're comfortable with it then by all means keep continuing to play it. I enjoy the 3ds as a controller and I can easily fallback to it if my GC controller goes haywire or something. More power to ya.

 

[erico9001]

It's... pathetic I guess? - what kinds of subjects (usually products) people will pointlessly align themselves to. Phones, computers, sports teams, headphones, shoes, game consoles, games, game controllers, beliefs, etc.¸ ¸ , - *

It never surprises me, though.

I usually try to keep a logical reason for why I go a particular way. When somebody has a supposed 'apposing' product, I can logically explain to them why I am using what I am using. For things well-researched, like my Superlux HD668B Headphones, I can demonstrate the superiority of what I am using in terms of overall quality and price. However, commonly, I have merely taken a different path (leading in a similar direction). This would be plain action without much thought. Here, a good defense for not changing to their side is to say it's a waste to do so. If they want me to switch to their path, they need to find a way to convince me that their way is superior enough to make it worth it.

More to the subject, lmao, nice job. So... at the irl tournament I went to, I was one of only a few using the Wii U Pro controller. Most people were using GC controllers, and a lot were also into playing Project M, which I guess makes sense. I was playing on a huge screen, where you had to be seated quite far back to have a good view. This was where my controller demonstrated the superiority of being wireless. Luckily for all the gamecube controller users, my brother thought to bring our gamecube controller extenders to the event (even though he was also using a Wii U Pro controller). Indeed, some people commented on how I was using a Wii U Pro Controller rather than a gamecube controller. After I took first place, I found it pretty amusing.

 

[ArikadoSD]

A fact is that the GC controller really isn't efficient anyway, but everyone uses them because they all played melee/brawl with the GC controller and they're just used to it.

Multishining would be piss easy if it weren't for the awkward button layout the GC controller has and how far away the jump button and the special button are.

That being said I would be surprised to see someone play with the 3DS as a controller competitively because it's not something you see everyday, not to the point where those people did though.

 

[Doval]

A fact is that the GC controller really isn't efficient anyway, but everyone uses them because they all played melee/brawl with the GC controller and they're just used to it.

Multishining would be piss easy if it weren't for the awkward button layout the GC controller has and how far away the jump button and the special button are.

I'd say multishining being hard is a good thing. The technique is too powerful to be done consistently and without error.

It's also moot since you can remap buttons in Smash 4. If you really need a Special button immediately adjacent to Jump you can remap X for that.

GC is the best controller other than the Wii U's Pro Controller. The Wii Classic Controller has really flimsy sticks and you need to have a wiimote dangling around. Wiimote and Nunchuck is a really unconventional setup and more trouble than it's worth to learn. Wiimote alone is a non-starter. The disadvantages of the 3DS have already been covered. So it comes down to GC or Wii U Pro and a lot of people already have GameCube controllers.

 

[Clavaat]

OP I'm right there with you on the button positioning. I played melee for years but when I try to go back to a GC controller for Smash 4, I just can't handle it. I think the draw of the Pro/3ds is that it feels just like a PS or Xbox controller which is what I'm used to from everything else I play. I think that's the detail that people forget, beyond just the wireless advantage.

 

[Zionaze]

Similar thing happend to me at my local tourney scene. I was the only one using a 3ds as a controller. my first match was announced against the #1 player in the venue and the people behind me thought I'd lose instantly but I performed very well and came up top. After that all opinions of me being a noob went out the window and they respect my controller choice. I was even using Falco, a low tier character at the time and beat experienced people using high tier characters.

And then theres that cheeky guy who tells you to get a "real controller" even after all that.

 

[TobiasXK]

And then theres that cheeky guy who tells you to get a "real controller" even after all that.

you understand what this actually is, though, right? you can take it as cheeky or bullying or whatever, but 9 times out of 10, this is:

"wow, you're actually better than i thought you could be playing that way; you'd probably be even better playing this other way, though.""

it's advice. there are objective reasons for it.

 

[Zionaze]

you understand what this actually is, though, right? you can take it as cheeky or bullying or whatever, but 9 times out of 10, this is:

"wow, you're actually better than i thought you could be playing that way; you'd probably be even better playing this other way, though.""

it's advice. there are objective reasons for it.

I would take it as advice if he was actually trying to be helpful. I didn't mention that he was deliberately trying to put me down so 10 times out of 10 he's being rude about it

 

[Langston777]

CHECK YOUR GC ADAPTER PRIVLEDGE 3DS SCUM

 

[kenniky]

The Wii Classic Controller has really flimsy sticks and you need to have a wiimote dangling around.

As a Classic Controller Pro user, I'd like to clear some things up.

First of all the wiimote honestly isn't that bad. You can just like set it on the floor or your bag or a table. It might be a little more to carry around but that doesn't matter too much if you have a bag.

I think the worst part about the Classic Controller is the placement of the left stick. It's on the bottom, so you have to hold your thumb sideways, which is not good for stuff like dash dancing or perfect pivoting.

I just got used to it because it was the next best thing in Brawl after my GameCube controllers broke.

 

[AaronSMASH]

Not sure if it goes there, but since It's tournament related...Here I go.
I attended a local smash tournament this weekend and something unexpected happened regarding controller choices, or if you prefer, how people react to my controller choice.

See, saturday I went to the local tournament and there was 50 participants. They all had gamecube controllers. I don't question their choice, smash and gc controller goes so well together. But I am not a fan of gc controller anymore. See, I play smash every day in the train while I'M going to work and I got so used to the 3ds that I am way better using the 3ds than the gc controller. When I get home, I'll play smash wiiu using my 3ds when against friends.

What I Was not expecting though was how looked down upon and literally laughed at I would be bringing my 3ds as a controller to play in a tournament. People approached me asking me how I Was planning to win using a 3ds. Some asked me if I was New to smash and explained how competitive smash is different from playing againSt computer.

I Was considered to be easy food for the rest of the competitors until they saw my first, second, third and all the rest of my matches up until freaking top4 (patting myself in the back) went in my favor.

The fact that they thought I Was ******** and bad for using a N3ds might have played in my favor, but still. I Was expecting to be looked at because of my controller choice, but not to the extent of being almost bullied lol.

That Was entertaining. I am Pretty sure my experience was the exception to the rule but, is anyone else has a story around controller choice in a tournament or in general? I never thought controllerism was even a thing.

Controller culture! Smash with any controller!

3DS USERS MATTER! raw raw fight tha powah.

But for real, I don't judge you for using it. I do, however, think that if you transitioned to a pro controller or gc controller it would improve your game in the long run. And I probably would have been one of the people expressing concern about your ability to compete or gawking incredulously at your controller preference.