Has the "Brawl Minus" approach benefitted balance?

[meleebrawler]

After going through most of the character forums, I get a general positive vibe from most of the characters.

Obviously "Brawl Minus" is a bit of a stretch since there are some nerfs, but overall most if not all of the characters
seem to have a fair shot now, and there are a lot more buffs overall.

What do you guys think?

 

[KaZe_DaRKWIND]

Well have to wait and see.

 

[RedFly]

For the Wii U version? Have to wait.
For the 3DS version? Probably has.

 

[Gameboi834]

I think it's definitely the best of both worlds.

 

[SmashWolf]

Balance? Who knows, give it a year. But making characters stronger is always a nice thing to have. It's why going from Brawl to Melee/Project M/Smash 4 just feels so perfect.

Everything in Brawl is slow and clunky, so when you move into a different game where almost EVERY character is better, it just feels great.

 

[meleebrawler]

For the Wii U version? Have to wait.
For the 3DS version? Probably has.

The characters are the same in both versions, so if 3DS's roster is balanced,
so is the Wii U's.

 

[MasterOfKnees]

It doesn't have a perfect balance, but it has definitely helped a ton, it makes almost every character look and feel like they're powerful. With that said, I'm glad they didn't buff everyone up to Meta Knight level as some suggested, it seems closer to the old Falco and Marth level (both which were very ironically nerfed.)

 

[KingBroly]

I'd need to see A LOT MORE from a lot of characters before I make that distinction. If a character sucked in Brawl, good luck finding anyone streaming willing to experiment.

 

[ChikoLad]

I'm liking that they are focusing on making everyone strong in a unique way, it is definitely helping the balance so far. No one character seems particularly bad and everyone seems viable. However, there are some characters that are clearly proving to be a cut above others already, but that's unavoidable.

 

[HeavyLobster]

I do think that buffing most characters is helping balance. Even more important, the game feels more offensive because characters have better options against shields and ways to more reliably punish airdodges and rolls. The game feels like it has a more balanced game engine because, even though defensive options are still very strong like in Brawl, all of the characters feel like their offensive options have been improved in order to adequately deal with them and this allows them to play more aggressively and put pressure on their opponents.

 

[Clint Jaguar]

One thing I like seeing in the released 3DS version is the return of fast combos. I still have to play it for myself but it does look like a major improvement over Brawl.

 

[Raijinken]

I prefer the "buff most" approach over the "nerf everything" approach to balance. I think that will be a good thing for the balance, but we'll have to see what popular characters and styles emerge before we can really tell.

 

[Saikyoshi]

I'm not sure if they did take that approach. They tore apart to near-total uselessness (again), for example, because inexperienced players mistakenly thought he would have been good in Brawl.

 

[meleebrawler]

I'm not sure if they did take that approach. They tore apart to near-total uselessness (again), for example, because inexperienced players mistakenly thought he would have been good in Brawl.

And yet you're going to main him anyway. Care to explain yourself?

 

[Saikyoshi]

And yet you're going to main him anyway. Care to explain yourself?

Proud low-tier specialist. I like the little guy as a character.

 

[meleebrawler]

I do think that buffing most characters is helping balance. Even more important, the game feels more offensive because characters have better options against shields and ways to more reliably punish airdodges and rolls. The game feels like it has a more balanced game engine because, even though defensive options are still very strong like in Brawl, all of the characters feel like their offensive options have been improved in order to adequately deal with them and this allows them to play more aggressively and put pressure on their opponents.

There admittedly has been some small nerfs to defensive maneuvers; air dodge landing lag and
higher shield damage (though counterbalanced by faster raise/drop times).

 

[meleebrawler]

Proud low-tier specialist. I like the little guy as a character.

We shouldn't speak about tiers until we've gotten some time with tournaments... unless you have a japanese copy?
Really, I don't see why you think G&W is so bad. He seems mostly the same as Brawl, just maybe a worse F-Smash.

 

[Saikyoshi]

We shouldn't speak about tiers until we've gotten some time with tournaments... unless you have a japanese copy?
Really, I don't see why you think G&W is so bad. He seems mostly the same as Brawl, just maybe a worse F-Smash.

I frequent the boards of characters I intend to main. According to observers, virtually all of his kill power is gone, along with the tricks such as Bucket Braking that made him useful in Brawl.

He'd be in my repertoire regardless of position is what I'm trying to say.