An idea to expand doubles stage list~

[Quarium]

Now as a lot of you prolly know, any stage that has hazards, transformations or bosses can have them disabled as long as there is 5 or more players entering the fight. This is usually not seen as viable in 1v1 tourneys due to needing another 3 players to self destruct before the rest can begin, with seems impractical...

But what about doubles? There's already 4 people playing! Wich only leaves one player having to SD at the beginning (would take no time whatsoever) It could even be a staff member or one of the two players themselves and do so on the Wii U gamepad (Since it isn't actually usable in tourneys AND also allows the person SD'ing to do so without being in front of the TV, they can be behind the setup and just look at the pad's screen) This makes everything extremely practical and not a time waster at all! hell, Tested out SD'ing 3 stocks with Sonic from almost the middle of FD and averaged at a whoppin 11 seconds!

Now think for a second about the possibilities of this!

-Pokemon Stadium 2 without transformations.
-Norfair without lava.
-Pyrosphere without Ridley.
-Wily Castle without Yellow Devil.
-Maybe some others I'm missing!

All stages with simple and intuitive layouts, perfect for tournament play without their pesky hazards,etc.

This opens such an ENOURMOUS window of opportunity to the doubles metagame! And even if you think it might look a bit silly to have a character SD at the beginning of each match for viewers and the such, it is such a small price to pay when it comes to having much more variety to our teams meta in general.

Note: Characters with passive charging moves (Wario's waft, ROB's neutral B) just need to use the move right after the dummy SDs their stocks and then everyone starts the match! before you say this would be a bother I'll tell you THIS IS ALREADY APPLIED on Crew battles, side events wich are also usually streamed for viewers and there's no complaints in that front.

Leave out your thoughts below!

When it's Sakurai ever just gonna patch in a hazards off button on one of the new updates amirite, I cri everytime​

 

[Masonomace]

Mmmmm. . .no matter how it's looked at, the game's pace is put to a halt because someone's SD'ing which could affect the real-time of the stage played, if it were Delfino or any stage dependent on X seconds. Doubles usually has 3 stocks 8 minutes as the standard afaik, so waiting on a character like Jigglypuff dying three times will take almost 20 seconds of the match. This would mean that the players stay absolutely still until a countdown or just when the character SD'ing dies in order to avoid any early team-play gimmicks or other strategies. If I had to choose a character to SD as fast as possible, I'd have 300% handicap Lucario use ExtremeSpeed. However, this happening may likely affect the Lucario players utilizing the Anubis strategy with their teammate, or any other strategy I'm not aware of. Dunno about that one actually.

Basically my opinion is in the middle. I like the idea because it only requires one more player that would be on a color team not chosen by the competing teams. It's just that the one extra character slot could be a slight hassle of time but I welcome myself to be wrong with visual game-play proof of this being implemented.

 

[EpicSonicLatios]

I actually like the idea, because it opens up some larger stage options for doubles, which could give projectile users a bit more of a place in the doubles meta game. Although the implications this has on balance and gameplay speed need to be examined before this can be seriously considered. The issue of the one character needing to SD is also an issue, but one that could be overlooked depending on the affect on the quality of gameplay of doubles in this ruleset.

 

[Quarium]

Basically my opinion is in the middle. I like the idea because it only requires one more player that would be on a color team not chosen by the competing teams. It's just that the one extra character slot could be a slight hassle of time but I welcome myself to be wrong with visual game-play proof of this being implemented.

So far I tested out SD'ing three times with sonic from the spawning point being close to the center of FD. I did this 5 times and averaged at the 10 to 11 second mark. Doesn't extremely bad imo but We would have to ttest it out in some tournament setting to see how it goes, after all. I am just making a suggestion.

The issue of the one character needing to SD is also an issue, but one that could be overlooked depending on the affect on the quality of gameplay of doubles in this ruleset.

I was thinking the exact same thing! I mean, remember the old days of Melee? How many stages were tried out as starters and counterpicks back then? Crew battles first had you reset your stocks? things like that might seem obviously dumb to players nowadays but the simple fact that they TRIED them first because their only worry back then was to make their game varied and interesting as it could by testing out everything and then ruling things out as they proved innefficient seems admirable to me. Sm4sh is a new game still, so I firmly believe that maybe we should start taking some small risks and see how they play out, I like being proved wrong as much as I like being proven right... it's uncertainty that I cannot stand xD

 

[RIP|Merrick]

You'd have to consider every little facet that could be exploited. For instance, someone like R.O.B that's playing in a doubles match, he's gonna be waiting around for quite some time until the fifth SD player suicides enough where play will start. He will have surely most of his neutral special fully charged by then, which could be considered an unusually unfair advantageous to the character. Would he have to fire it off right before a Jigglypuff shield breaks that last stock? And Wario would have to fart immediately before the match begins as soon as possible.

Sounds like a lot of things that could delay a tournament, but I'm going to suggest it for our next doubles tournament and see if it can be a thing. I like the idea of having more available stages to play.

 

[TheHypnotoad]

You'd have to consider every little facet that could be exploited. For instance, someone like R.O.B that's playing in a doubles match, he's gonna be waiting around for quite some time until the fifth SD player suicides enough where play will start. He will have surely most of his neutral special fully charged by then, which could be considered an unusually unfair advantageous to the character. Would he have to fire it off right before a Jigglypuff shield breaks that last stock? And Wario would have to fart immediately before the match begins as soon as possible.

Sounds like a lot of things that could delay a tournament, but I'm going to suggest it for our next doubles tournament and see if it can be a thing. I like the idea of having more available stages to play.

Yes and yes. That's how R.O.B. and Wario work in crew battles too.

 

[Masonomace]

So far I tested out SD'ing three times with sonic from the spawning point being close to the center of FD. I did this 5 times and averaged at the 10 to 11 second mark. Doesn't extremely bad imo but We would have to ttest it out in some tournament setting to see how it goes, after all. I am just making a suggestion.

No sweat. I tested Lucario at 300% handicap from a VS Mode format 3 stock match & tried SD'ing three times as fast as I could. It only took away 7 seconds off the clock, but we'll say the average is 8 - 10 seconds.

 

[misterOWAIN33]

I didn't know this was a thing; I think it's a great idea!

 

[RIP|Merrick]

Regardless of the stock and time you have for your ruleset, in my time testing and playing around with this idea I would suggest adding one additional minute to the timer and wait until it's back to its default time before releasing potential charge moves (Wario fart, R.O.B's beam) and starting the match as normally when the clock hits 6 minutes (2 stocks) or 8 minutes (3 stocks). Mainly because I feel the couple of seconds it takes for someone to SD two or three times could make a difference and it's best to just to try to start matches at the most even time possible.

Going to try this for our Doubles exclusive tournament this coming Thursday.

 

[Cheap Shot]

I really like this idea and I even tested it out. I like PS2 and Norfair but maybe Pyrosphere is a tad too large. That is only opinion, though. Unfortunately, Wily's Castle does not work with more than 4 players.

 

[Quarium]

Regardless of the stock and time you have for your ruleset, in my time testing and playing around with this idea I would suggest adding one additional minute to the timer and wait until it's back to its default time before releasing potential charge moves (Wario fart, R.O.B's beam) and starting the match as normally when the clock hits 6 minutes (2 stocks) or 8 minutes (3 stocks). Mainly because I feel the couple of seconds it takes for someone to SD two or three times could make a difference and it's best to just to try to start matches at the most even time possible.

Going to try this for our Doubles exclusive tournament this coming Thursday.

Got any results to share about that?