Character and Homefield Advantages

[CannonStreak]

Okay, I had an idea for a feature that could work in a Smash game, and I'd like to share it.

Basically, it is the idea that characters would get advantages on their homestages if they are fighting in them. For example, if Mario and other Mario characters are fighting other characters in a Mario themed stage, there would be pink Bomb-Omb buddies from Mario 64 that would come out and activate a cannon that then fires at everyone but the Mario characters. Another example would be in a Yoshi stage where, if Yoshi is on the stage, gets help from Poochie, who attacks other enemies for Yoshi and digs up items only Yoshi can get. In a Kirby stage, if there are Kirby characters, Kirby's friends from the Kirby's Dreamland games, like Rick, Kine and Coo, would help the Kirby characters attack the foes, and Kirby and company can ride them, too, and only the Kirby characters. In a Kid Icarus stage, characters from the same series would be hit by a beam of light, and only them, and they would gain strength and speed boosts as well as items if they choose to activate a switch first on the stage. All this and so on for other characters and stages. If all the characters on a stage are from the same universe, these advantages would not happen.

Now, I understand not everyone likes stages hazards, and I do predict that some people will think this is a bit unfair, or really unfair, but this is an idea I thought was a bit creative enough to share, and thus I wanted to share it. What do you guys think? Feel free to make up your own homefield advantages for characters if you want to, by the way.

 

[Nebunera]

It is pretty cool and innovative, all I would suggest is that there is an option to turn this off; otherwise, I can see it work out.

It is kind of like a Home vs. Away thing.

 

[CannonStreak]

It is pretty cool and innovative, all I would suggest is that there is an option to turn this off; otherwise, I can see it work out.

It is kind of like a Home vs. Away thing.

Thank you.

And I agree, an option to turn that off would be cool/good as well.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

I don't think this is a good idea.

It adds a gimmick that only affects a handful of characters. It's unbalanced by design.

People might say normal stage hazards and items are unbalanced, but they actually are. They're just balanced in zany ways.

This idea just seems like an attempt to shove in more fanservice at the cost of good gameplay.

 

[Snatch Steal]

Ideally, people wouldn't be picking these stages in competitive, so it would be best if they were not on stages like Smashville or Dreamland. Otherwise, it could be cute for casuals.

I'd like to see Game & Watch on Flat Zone with these settings.

 

[CannonStreak]

Ideally, people wouldn't be picking these stages in competitive, so it would be best if they were not on stages like Smashville or Dreamland. Otherwise, it could be cute for casuals.

I'd like to see Game & Watch on Flat Zone with these settings.

Thanks for being honest. You too, Swamp Sensei .

 

[Kirby Dragons]

This is an idea I also had multiple times. I'd like it as long as if it was something optional. It'd actually give "home stage" a meaning, instead of it just referring to a character playing on a stage from the series. Because your character matches the series, they get a reward.

To make it more fair, the advantages could be small things. Like giving Kirby characters an extra jump or two on Kirby stages.

 

[Diddy Kong]

No. Just no.

Except if you could turn this damn thing off, cause I just don't have the confidence that the balance team is up to this sort of thing.

 

[PsychoJosh]

I thought of this idea for a while, and it's interesting, but it'd be a bit unfair in certain scenarios and simply too hard to balance properly.

Just because you're playing as Fox on a Star Fox stage you're suddenly immune to its hazards? While the idea of a home field advantage sounds nice in principle, I think it's a bit too hard to implement. I mean, let's say you got into a fight with some random stranger in your own house, would you REALLY have an advantage in the fight just because it's your house? I don't think so.

I mean yeah, I guess you'd know beforehand where you keep the knives are or where there's a loose floorboard that makes people trip over, but that doesn't mean the opponent can't use them against you as well.

I suppose one way to implement it would be to give certain characters abilities that only they can use on the stage, like only Sonic is able to activate a springtrap on a certain part of Green Hill Zone or something. That'd keep it nice and casual without affecting the balance too much.

 

[osby]

I think it's a better idea to save this for Events.

 

[CannonStreak]

I thought of this idea for a while, and it's interesting, but it'd be a bit unfair in certain scenarios and simply too hard to balance properly.

Just because you're playing as Fox on a Star Fox stage you're suddenly immune to its hazards? While the idea of a home field advantage sounds nice in principle, I think it's a bit too hard to implement. I mean, let's say you got into a fight with some random stranger in your own house, would you REALLY have an advantage in the fight just because it's your house? I don't think so.

I mean yeah, I guess you'd know beforehand where you keep the knives are or where there's a loose floorboard that makes people trip over, but that doesn't mean the opponent can't use them against you as well.

I suppose one way to implement it would be to give certain characters abilities that only they can use on the stage, like only Sonic is able to activate a springtrap on a certain part of Green Hill Zone or something. That'd keep it nice and casual without affecting the balance too much.

Well, I didn't say the characters would be immune to all hazards. That said, those were just examples. Perhaps other things like granting an extra jump like others suggested would probably be better in a way.

Now for my personal take on this. I think this would be fun to have in a casual match between casual players. Not only is Smash a fighting game, but some would say it is a party game, and I can see casuals having a lot of fun with this idea. Maybe not all casual fans, but still...

However, Smash is still a fighting game, and where there is fighting in a game, there are competitive players. That said, I do not think this idea would be good for competitive players, for plenty of reasons. I do think it would be unfair if one player's character had that on their homestage in a competitive match, which is why there should be an option to turn it off. Not too competitive myself, but I can see where the competitive people are coming from. So in a way, this idea wouldn't appeal to all players, as it depends on who it is we are talking about. I believe though, that if it could be turned off, it could work on its own. This may please some people depending on how they look at it.

 

[Khao]

I completely hate this idea the way it's proposed. Advantages seem extremely arbitrary and simply outright removed from the way the game is designed.

I would however support designing stage layouts in such a way that would work well with a specific character's toolset. Giving Mario an extra jump on a Mario stage makes no sense whatsoever, and having elements specifically focus characters depending on their series is just unfair. However, adding long paths of walls that Mario could use to walljump would give him a small advantage over a ton of characters. I'd rather see things like that.