Frequency of Smash Balls: static or dynamic?

[TheZizz]

I've been quite curious about how often Smash Balls appear and how consistent the intervals are. From the footage it would appear that you can pretty much count on one appearing at some point during a given match, and it's not unusual to see a second before the two-minute mark.

But regarding that one interview where the Nintendo rep explains Smash Balls, to paraphrase his words, "let's hope one appears," he implies that there are matches in which you won't see one. I hope this to be the case because you will have more diversity in your fights, some of course having those King of the Hill moments with a frantic dash for the Smash Ball. But I think having too much of that, let alone in every match might become stale or bring the game out of focus, making it slightly less of a fighting game and slightly more of an objective-based affair. I guess what I'm saying is it might feel like having a Target Test randomly crop up in your battle.

And besides all that Smash Balls should be a big deal and a grand occurence as the game intends it to be. That won't be achieved if you go into the fight wondering when the Smash Ball's going to show up, because you know it will, and trying to situate yourself and gain dominance of the playfield for when it arrives instead of focusing on giving Mario a ruptured carotid artery (here's hoping for Luigi's F-Smash to return!)

I've no doubt in my mind that Smash Ball frequency will be customizable. But I wonder whether to the extent that I would hope to see. That is to say, alongside the low/medium/high options there would be a "who knows?" for those who want a wider spectrum.

 

[Tony_]

What the rep meant by that is that they randomly appear at a SET frequency.

Also, I hope you can't turn them off, just to spite people who only want to play the game for glory.

 

[NinjaRooster]

I believe that it's just like every item: random.

when I played at EFA, i played at least two matches where the smash ball didn't appear at all so it doesn't have to appear all the time

 

[StupendousMike]

I'm sure it's been said before, but the Smash Ball reminds me of Power Stone. If I recall, in the first one at least, the Power Stones couldn't be turned off but you could adjust the level of damage your super attacks did.

 

[Spellman]

I was actually thinking of making a thread like this, about the odds of items appearing in battle such as the Smash Ball. I think for demo purposes, the chances of the Smash Ball being released was increased. Who knows though. I am also a little nervous about the odds of Assist Trophies and Pokeballs appearing. They've made so many Pokemon and other characters. So it concerns me that possibly the chances of them dropping is higher because.. well.. the team wants to show off their creations, seeing as they are one of the more interesting items. I have that same nervousness about the Smash Balls. I mean, once the thrill of seeing new Assist Trophies, Final Smashes, and Pokemon passes, I think we'd really start to notice a flaw like that. But we'll see. Just a possibility, I think they'll have better judgment.

 

[MetaKnight0]

Maybe he was just hoping the game wouldn't crap out on him.

 

[Ridley FTB!!!]

i dont really care if they appear to fast.i want to play it to have fun

 

[Xanderous]

Obviously, it's random. I'm sure it can be set though.

 

[Ritalin]

Hypocrites, you can't use items. You have to turn those things off. Either all items are OK or none of them are.

 

[dodoromeo]

static for sure

 

[NinjaRooster]

Hypocrites, you can't use items. You have to turn those things off. Either all items are OK or none of them are.

Kinda true. It can't be both ways...

but that was slightly off-topic wasn't it?

 

[PrettyGoodYear]

Hypocrites, you can't use items. You have to turn those things off. Either all items are OK or none of them are.

Once upon a time, there were item tourneys... and guess what? They DIDN'T use all items. Moron... obviously, The Fan is ok, but a Starman is not... and so on. There was a list of allowed items in tourneys.

The reason no one plays with items NOW is because of exploding crates and barrels.

 

[MookieRah]

Also, I hope you can't turn them off, just to spite people who only want to play the game for glory.

Thankfully spite is a horrible reason to not give that option to the people who don't want to play with them. Seriously, why are you wanting it out of "spite." Do you honestly harbor that much disdain for the competitive community that you would wish for Sakurai to give us less control to play the game the way we want? Also, how have you been wronged by the competitive scene? I very much doubt your "spite" is even warranted, seeing how A LOT of people now that simply don't want to play the game competitive just simply ally themselves with the increasingly ignorant and hostile anti-tournament scene.

 

[Aaryk]

Thankfully spite is a horrible reason to not give that option to the people who don't want to play with them. Seriously, why are you wanting it out of "spite." Do you honestly harbor that much disdain for the competitive community that you would wish for Sakurai to give us less control to play the game the way we want? Also, how have you been wronged by the competitive scene? I very much doubt your "spite" is even warranted, seeing how A LOT of people now that simply don't want to play the game competitive just simply ally themselves with the increasingly ignorant and hostile anti-tournament scene.

Ah Mookierah, I could not have said it better myself.

Heres to hoping that the game is infintely customizable, smash balls and all.

 

[kingjoekur]

if you can't set the smash ball to appear only once a match, i will not be impressed..... i would honestly consider turning it off.....

 

[Tony_]

Thankfully spite is a horrible reason to not give that option to the people who don't want to play with them. Seriously, why are you wanting it out of "spite." Do you honestly harbor that much disdain for the competitive community that you would wish for Sakurai to give us less control to play the game the way we want? Also, how have you been wronged by the competitive scene? I very much doubt your "spite" is even warranted, seeing how A LOT of people now that simply don't want to play the game competitive just simply ally themselves with the increasingly ignorant and hostile anti-tournament scene.

The tournament community basically said a good "**** you" to the people who only play the game for what it is, not something for glorified money. Also, yes, Sakurai has been to tournaments and for what its worth, Smash Balls can't be turned off. Doing so is a HUGE "**** you" and ***** slap to the people who put their life's work into the game. If you say it isn't, then you only play the game for glory and nothing else.

 

[SirPenguin]

I'm thinking there might be a threshold the match must first reach before a Ball appears. In one video, the booth girl says something along the lines of, "Ok, we're past the halfway mark! Look for the smash ball!"

Perhaps after a certain amount of time (that's not just based on the actual match clock, meaning it'll still appear at this time on stock/etc) it has a chance to spawn, with the chance increasing every minute/second/whatever.

*shrug*

 

[soviet prince]

I say that all items and final smashes can be customized so there is no need to worry about that.

 

[Seikishidan Soru]

The tournament community basically said a good "**** you" to the people who only play the game for what it is, not something for glorified money.

The tournament community didn't say "**** you" to anyone, they played the game the way they wanted without bothering anyone else. People who come and assume that there is a single way of playing the game and try to force it on other people would deserve it though.
"Playing the game for what it is"... ? What kind of nonsense is this ? Some people play the game while putting money on the line. Some people don't. So what ? Either way is fine. How does wishing for fewer options make any sense, especially for a game like this ? Do you hate freedom or something ? Or money, maybe ? If you hate money, give me whatever you have left. Because I like money.

 

[KiddyDong]

I was hoping Sakurai would put in something like a Smash Bar, where it would fill up by doing damage, and when its full you get to use your final smash. Having it come from an item kinda sucks :/

 

[Seikishidan Soru]

I was hoping Sakurai would put in something like a Smash Bar, where it would fill up by doing damage, and when its full you get to use your final smash. Having it come from an item kinda sucks :/

That wouldn't have been a bad idea if the meter would have slightly decreased when you spent a certain amount of time not attacking your opponent(s), or when you got hit yourself.

 

[maxpower1227]

Their appearances are probably governed by a Poisson distribution /nerd

 

[Tony_]

The tournament community didn't say "**** you" to anyone, they played the game the way they wanted without bothering anyone else. People who come and assume that there is a single way of playing the game and try to force it on other people would deserve it though.
"Playing the game for what it is"... ? What kind of nonsense is this ? Some people play the game while putting money on the line. Some people don't. So what ? Either way is fine. How does wishing for fewer options make any sense, especially for a game like this ? Do you hate freedom or something ? Or money, maybe ? If you hate money, give me whatever you have left. Because I like money.

I only say this here because of the implications of online play. Factors like those can REALLY determine how players play. For all we know, Sakurai could have it so you CAN'T turn items off online to make it more friendly to beginning players and makes skilled players play around items.

Also, I like money as much as the next person, but all the complaining about brawl from the competetive smashers needs to stop. They can talk on MSN, AIM, or in the melee section.

 

[Takeshi245]

I only say this here because of the implications of online play. Factors like those can REALLY determine how players play. For all we know, Sakurai could have it so you CAN'T turn items off online to make it more friendly to beginning players and makes skilled players play around items.

That's very unlikely considering Sakurai likes to keep options open for players that don't like items just like they've been doing for years. Besides, items will contribute to lag.

Also, I like money as much as the next person, but all the complaining about brawl from the competetive smashers needs to stop. They can talk on MSN, AIM, or in the melee section.

The competitive community doesn't complain that much. The majority of us have already realized we'll need to play differently this time. We're going to be the ones dominating in Brawl anyways. It's you that should stop complaining about competitive smashers.

 

[RedKnight]

I figure the Smash Ball and how often it appears will be controlled in the same way as other items. Maybe it wil get its own customization settings though, Im really hoping you can make more than one appear at once

 

[Tony_]

That's very unlikely considering Sakurai likes to keep options open for players that don't like items just like they've been doing for years. Besides, items will contribute to lag.

The competitive community doesn't complain that much. The majority of us have already realized we'll need to play differently this time. We're going to be the ones dominating in Brawl anyways. It's you that should stop complaining about competitive smashers.

The item's argument falls short. Try again.


Also, explain Mewtwo kings thread, where competitive smashers complained for 40+ pages.