Can a "Free for All" meta work?

[TheMisterManGuy]

Outside of the usual 1v1, 2v2 Team Battles have always been a fun alternative in competitive Smash, with Smash 4 even having a niche 4v4 meta with it's new 8-Player Smash mode. But, what if there was a 4 player meta without the team aspect. Specifically, can a 4-Player free-for-all stock meta work in a competitive setting? Super Smash Bros. has always had more of a Battle Royale element to it than most fighting games simply because more than 2 players can fight on screen at once. Obviously we still have abide by competitive rules here. That being, items and stage hazards off, stock battles, legal stages only. But even with every man for themselves, could the Free for All meta work for high level Smash?

 

[osby]

Too much unpredictability for competitive players to just memorise every variable in the game to win.

It would be fun but it's hard to gain followers.

 

[jwillenn]

Here's a crazy version of FFA for Smash.

FFA Round Robin?

Let's say some small amount of time such as 20 seconds must elapse before players move "around" to new targets. Heck, call that a "round". You are matched against one other player, even though there are 4, 6, or 8 participants. The round changes and suddenly players have new targets. So basically you have these 1v1 pairs in what appears to be a FFA situation. The typical FFA chaos is there, or at least the illusion of it. I'm thinking stocks/survival, not kills within time limit. I'm thinking Pokeballs and certain other items can hurt anyone, not just your target.

p1 vs p8, p2 vs p7, p3 vs p6, p4 vs p5
20s later
p1 vs p5, and so on...
20 s later
new pairs
and so on...

So you have all of these mini scuffles going on. Someone other than you will likely finish off your first few targets, but this isn't about getting the most kills. It's about performing best in your scuffles and avoiding hazards to be the last one standing. I'd like there to be some element that penalizes players for not engaging their targets. I have some ideas, but I'll think on it more.

Anything can be turned into a "serious competition", but my question is could you find this to be fun?

 

[smashingDoug]

Too much unpredictability for competitive players to just memorise every variable in the game to win.

It would be fun but it's hard to gain followers.

Go in to more detail please,

Makes it sounds like they just whine about anything

 

[Dream Cancel]

The main issue with FFAs is two-fold. 1) Deciding a proper rule-set for FFAs, and 2) Deterring collaboration between players.

Before I get into this, I want to note that my intent with this rule-set is to promote acting in one's self-interest. Sandbagging, teaming, or unnatural targeting are things I'm looking to mitigate or eliminate.

1) Starting with rules, stock is a very poor choice for competitive FFAs because optimal gameplay is survival and combat avoidance. Eliminate the weakest or highest % player, then repeat. Add any potential collaboration (2 players gang up on another to eliminate them) and Stock FFA can get really degenerate, really fast.

Time-based FFA doesn't have these problems. Someone wants to camp with a lead? No problem, just target the other 2+ players. You're not rewarded for camping; all it does is preserve your current state. The most degenerate thing about Time-based FFAs is killstealing, which can be annoying, I admit.

The main difference that makes Time better than Stock is that you have more choices. You can either chase the leading player, camp with a lead, or target weaker players to rack up more points. Do you target the weak player, or target the chasing players to score quick %?

1 1/2) In addition to time, players' scores should not be reduced on death (upon being KO'd) Instead, they should only be reduced via SD's. This would be a preventative measure against destroying any one player's score.

2) Collaboration between players make a life-or-death difference in Stock. As we know from Doubles, 2v1s are brutal for the solo player if executed correctly. In addition, being targeted is never fun, especially if you're losing. It's optimal to eliminate losing player before moving onto stronger ones because it's easier to preserve your stocks. Not to mention potential 2+ player camping strategies; that would be a nightmare.

On the other hand, collaborative play does not play well in Time matches. 2 players or more targeting 1 player only really works where 1st place matters the most, and even then, you can target the chasing players for points if you find the opportunity for a KO. Otherwise, the teamed players must score multiple KOs just to break even.

TL;DR Use time, not stock. It solves every problem from camping to teaming. Use +1 for KOs, +-0 for deaths, and -1 for SDs.

I'm not sure about the timer though. 4-5 minutes maybe?