Core-A Gaming: Should We Stop Playing Side-by-Side?

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For players that have entered a live event in the fighting game community within the United States, the idea of sitting directly next to the opponent is something so commonplace that it is not often thought about. But in Asia many tournaments have players fighting on separate setups across each other on a stage. But which of these is better? Core-A Gaming takes a look at both layouts in their latest video and explain how each can alter the meta-game at events.

Have thoughts after watching the video? Which format might be best? Sound off in the comments and vote below and don't forget to stay tuned to Smashboards for future discussion and videos.

 

It is less of a hassle, and it really feels awkward when you play apart. Just my thoughts, side by side is something we shouldn't change.

 

Short answer: no
Long answer: no

 

Some controllers for Smash have very short cord lengths, so if you stop playing side by side, how will they hook up their controller?

 

It's an interesting topic, but the narrator is right; with the increase in prize money, we will probably move away from side-by-side, which is sad.

 

It's an interesting topic, but the narrator is right; with the increase in prize money, we will probably move away from side-by-side, which is sad.

Luckily there is no reasonable/practical way to do this in Smash Afaik.

 

This should only be for large tournaments. Across is better Top 32 or 64 if resources are really an issue, if it is a large tournament that is well run it should not be an issue. This will help a player calm their nerves and we will get more consistent tournament results instead of the cluster expletive that is Smash 4 Tournament Results. This will make seeding easier (GENESIS 3 Ruleset) and ranking such as the MIOM Top 100 less opinionated.

Edit: There are two USB Ports per Wii U. I think MadCatz Controllers are banned (the ones with short cords, please don't quote me on that). Sure it is a hassle but isn't running a major a hassle? Yes.
Honestly saying it is "sad" that the future might not be Side by side is pretty stupid.

 

Luckily there is no reasonable/practical way to do this in Smash Afaik.

The japanese do this a lot in smash 4 so I'd say it's plenty practical/reasonable.

 

The japanese do this a lot in smash 4 so I'd say it's plenty practical/reasonable.

Oh, I was mainly thinking about Melee.

 

I haven't watched the video yet, but I'm so glad this topic is getting more attention. Douchey tactics like Westballz's real life head-movement to throw off tech-chasing would be gone, among other things. Traditional thinking would say side-by-side is the only way, but, like most all other uses of traditionalism, it'll either change or get left behind. We have enough advancements to render the perks of sitting side-by-side obsolete, and it's honestly pretty uncomfortable for some people and in some situations. I'm also for the easier access of players denying player-cams more easily, but a bunch of self-confident people that aren't a fan of changes like this already hate me, so I'll go

(The regret of being this sassy is already setting in, but I'm posting this anyway)

 

Oh, I was mainly thinking about Melee.

What about Melee changes that?

 

What about Melee changes that?

CRT's. Plain and simple.

I wouldn't mind sitting across if I had to, but side-by-side has more advantages for pretty much everything.
(Not that across doesn't have advantages of course.)

 

This question is so subjective that its silly to even ask it. (In my opinion) it depends on what you consider a fair fight. if you think taunting people physically or distracting them is part of the game(Ino woulda won if Sakura didnt hear Naruto #chuninexams) then side by side is aight. I think thats sorta cheap, but it makes sense. if u think its dependant on skills alone, then you should isolate each player... and eliminate all other distractions that exist, which is also silly to suggest. Incredibly subjective and opinion based.

 

Honestly, this doesn't affect Smash at all. I'd prefer people side-by-side with each other playing Smash, the SF/fightstick community might benefit from this.

 

Oh for ****'s sakes, the Smash community is trying to ban seating arrangements now?! Just when I thought the bans couldn't get any dumber.

 

You obviously care. Why else would you create an account here to troll? And the FGC obviously cares enough to make Melee one of the staple games at the most prestigious fighting game tournament, EVO.

And:
"Fighting game is a video game genre in which the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent."

That's the definition of a fighting game. Smash fits that definition. You can say "No, it's a party fighting game" all you want, but it's a fighting game, just a different kind of one. James Chen, our Street Fighter homie, thinks the same way. Smash already is in the FGC, because the FGC isn't strictly for traditional fighting games. Everyone else in the FGC just hates Smash because it's way different from the other popular fighting games and you're just mad that it gets higher entries and it's stealing the spotlight from most of the other games. Smash is in the FGC and it is here to stay. Stay butthurt.

Smash made a resurgence because of the Evo 2013 breast cancer drive. Melee won the drive and was featured as a main game for Evo 2013. This put the spotlight on Melee and in turn this caused Melee and PM (at the time) to start finding places as main games in fgc (non smash related) majors, which further caused an increase in the amount of players competing and/or coming into the scene for smash.

The reason why I believe smash has done so well in terms of community population/player numbers, is because smash is primarily it's own community. There are very few players that play both traditional fighting games and smash (on a serious level), and not only that; very little of the fundamentals between traditional fighting games and smash cross over anyway.

You combine this with the fact that there aren't any other games similar to smash anyway which in turn develops a community of players that only play smash bros (ie: the smash community). In addition to this, the barrier of entry is very low in so it's very easy for people to become a part of the community and play.

So now smash has become a staple game in fgc majors/tournaments because it's a no brainer for TO's. Why wouldn't you add another game that's going to draw in new and more players in similar numbers as the main game (street fighter)? In addition to that, TO's are able to add in 2 smash games (Melee and Smash 4) that are going to be drawing in huge numbers. That's more money for the TO's which greatly helps costs for running these tournaments.

Smash is a fighting game (just not a traditional one) and is finding it's place within the fgc, but the community still is segregated but that line is slowly becoming blurred as time goes on with new players joining the community and a higher number of crossover players between the two.

Smash, particularly Melee, is in general a much faster paced game. The example was used of an opponent hearing a hadouken input and potentially being able to react faster as a result, but the same can't really apply to Melee's gameplay. In short, it would be hard to pick up on any inputs being made through sound, since smash doesn't rely on a traditional input system, and hearing ANYTHING helpful would be a miracle realistically, since generally all you can make out whilst playing a set is a GameCube controller getting furiously used due to its (cheaper) plastic body.

Not to mention, any inputs seen in time made by your opponent wouldn't really be of much help since moves often come out faster (fox's shine), and bc movement is such an essential part of the game, taking your eyes off the screen could be fatal in giving your opposition time to manipulate their spacing and potentially take control of the match.

Also, sitting apart would de-value the social aspects of competitive smash, which personally I find to be one of its main draws.

Playing head-to-head doesn't offer too many benefits that it does for traditional fighting games. There's a lot of inputs being pressed in smash bros in general for various movement and tech that physically hearing your opponents button presses doesn't offer much insight into what their doing. In addition to this, playing smash on a gc controller is very loud regardless.

In Street Fighter, having the ability to hear your opponent's buttons offers great insight into what mat be going on in the match. If I can hear my opponent attempting to tech throws/crouch tech/push buttons to counter hit jab/short me, that gives me so much knowledge on what they're doing so I can make my frame trap/throw game, bait/whiff punish game that much scarier. People off set this by doing fake button presses on their turned off 3P/3K button to fake the opponent out or pressing their buttons very softly (like I do for certain option selects). However there now exists silent buttons/joysticks that help off set the noise of inputs to counter this. I should mention that generally, playing on arcade sticks is audible to the opponent and playing on controller is NOT - which obviously is not the case for smash bros.

 

I've had two experiences in tournament with distracting opponents. One was a guy that just would not stop talking and narrating about every thought that crossed his mind during our matches. The other was against a kid that got super jumpy whenever he did anything even whiffing his jab. I could see him bouncing around in his seat in my peripheral which was kinda distracting.

From these personal experiences I could understand why playing on separate screens might be something worth doing. That said, separate screens would mean more money needed for setups, which probably isn't desirable. Also I've seen split screens done in Smash 4, but I'm not even sure how Melee would pull that off.

 

I've had two experiences in tournament with distracting opponents. One was a guy that just would not stop talking and narrating about every thought that crossed his mind during our matches. The other was against a kid that got super jumpy whenever he did anything even whiffing his jab. I could see him bouncing around in his seat in my peripheral which was kinda distracting.

Yeah, and it's like at what point do you draw the line?

 

CRT's. Plain and simple.

I wouldn't mind sitting across if I had to, but side-by-side has more advantages for pretty much everything.
(Not that across doesn't have advantages of course.)

People are already using lagless monitor setups for Melee and even if they weren't, you literally just have to Y-split the AV cords you're using for gameplay. You already split the connection once for recording, too.

 

People are already using lagless monitor setups for Melee and even if they weren't, you literally just have to Y-split the AV cords you're using for gameplay. You already split the connection once for recording, too.

I was just answering what would be a huge difference in terms of logistics between Smash 4 Across and Melee Across.

My personal opinion is that we already have rules to punish excessive disrupting between players and as a community that prides itself on the "Grassroots" and "Family-like" feel and other terms that describe a great interaction between players both during and off matches. (Even the documentary acknowledged this.) Sitting across makes very little sense, especially since we don't use Fight Sticks.

 

I went to a tourney that had stream matches as sitting across. I liked that better.

 

Please watch Pokchop play Tekken. You'll understand why.

 

I'm a bit bias when it comes to this. For me, I prefer sitting next to my opponent (or friend) as it makes me much more personal for me to have the winning outcome. If I'm sitting across a stage from them, I just feel as if I am playing on the internet across the globe with someone. I can see why maybe sitting across from someone would be a good idea (less trash talk involved), but it's side by side for me.

 

People get some delusions of grandeur when they think about Smash tournaments, but in the end, the majority of Smash tournaments are still held at small venues, and a lot of how they run fluidly and successfully is from the generosity and willingness of participants to bring their own setups. This will probably continue for as long as Smash tournaments continue, and I'm fine with that - there's a real feeling of trust and companionship when you have so many people willing to bring $500+ worth of electronics an hour or more from their home just to play video games.

I get that we live in a very great time where TVs are only a few inches thick, but I feel like a lot of people might be a little wary of transporting them over a long distance. If a "complete" setup at a tournament I was planning on bringing a setup to asked for "two TVs", I'd probably just not go - fitting one TV securely into my compact car is already nerve-racking enough because I love my TV.

Then you get players who are anal about "lag" on the TV (a phenomenon I have yet to experience across hundreds of TVs), and I just know forcing that kind of person to play on a TV different than their opponent is going to open up a world of salt and johns the likes of which we have yet to see.

And really, do people actually get distracted by things going on outside of the game at a tournament? As long as I'm in top form, I get so into my matches that the world outside of it might as well have stopped.

 

OK here is a problem
We would need the same 2 TVs
Sure monitors is easy to get 2 of the same type because they still make them but its harder to find 2 CRTs that are the same (unless a company made them again)but as far as I know nobody makes them and different TVs =different input lag so they would ether have a unfair advantage or unfair disadvantage because in top level play the difference between 1 and 2 frams of lag can be victory or failure

 

How would we go about stage counterpicking with people sitting across from each other.

 

How would we go about stage counterpicking with people sitting across from each other.

pretty much as awkwardly possible. Imagine trying to counter-pick in grand finals with the crowd chanting and players having to yell to the other side with 2 CRT's in the way.

"I pick FD for ban!"
"Ok!" *sets the match to FD*
"I said FD is banned!"
"What!? You said to pick FD!"
'For ban!"
"Why you yelling?"
"I'm not yelling!!!" Kappa.

It would be a freaking mess. At least in that aspect.