Did casuals complain about Melee in it's time?

[Capricorn Genesis]

Sakurai wanted to lower the skill ceiling (lower hitsun, slow down movement, etc.) in Brawl and Smash 4 because he thought there was too big of a gap, but I never heard of there ever being any complaints from the casual players. Why change so much for a group that didn't care? All it did was frustrate a smaller but dedicated portion of the fanbase.

This isn't about the games themselves, so no arguing over which is "better". I just want a better understanding of Sakurai's mind because I have a hard time grasping some of his decisions.

 

[AirFair]

From watching the doc, what I can say is that Sakurai wanted "everyone to win" if that makes any sense. I can't really understand it but that's all I remember on why he changed the games up so much.

 

[EPsilon933]

I have met casuals who hate(d) Melee and prefer(ed) Brawl and 64. I knew these people as early as Fall 2007. They said it sometime in late 2008 or early 2009. They also prefer Naruto CON to the Smash series. Just sharing info

 

[Capricorn Genesis]

I have met casuals who hate(d) Melee and prefer(ed) Brawl and 64. I knew these people as early as Fall 2007. They said it sometime in late 2008 or early 2009. They also prefer Naruto CON to the Smash series. Just sharing info

That's too late to have any effect on Brawl.

 

[Capricorn Genesis]

It seems like casuals who disliked Melee are in the non-vocal minority. Judging by certain interviews, Sakurai must have made these changes out of spite toward competitive players who didn't play the way he wanted them to. That's very childish if you ask me.

 

[JoeTango]

Most of my friends that play are casual players, and they say they really don't have a preference between the games in terms of the speed and physics and what not. They just like how there are more characters on the newer ones, but there's never really any dispute about playing melee over sm4sh or vice versa

 

[gmBottles]

I have plenty of casual friends who LOVE Melee and PM and HATE Brawl. Just because something is hard doesn't make it bad for casual players, it just means that there is potentially more to learn.

 

[Massive]

Yes.
I knew a lot of people who preferred 64 because it was "slower and easier to handle".
I also remember that fateful gamespot review that said the controls were too touchy... lol.

The game was widely received as awesome though, everyone I knew that had a gamecube had a copy. Casuals still bought and played it en masse, the gaming scene just felt smaller in general back then.

 

[Spazzy]

I have plenty of casual friends who LOVE Melee and PM and HATE Brawl. Just because something is hard doesn't make it bad for casual players, it just means that there is potentially more to learn.

:D

 

[EPsilon933]

I have plenty of casual friends who LOVE Melee and PM and HATE Brawl. Just because something is hard doesn't make it bad for casual players, it just means that there is potentially more to learn.

Melee isn't a hard game at a casual level