I need help deciding something.

[puningtilde]

I'm really sorry if I'm posting this in the wrong board, but this seemed to be the most relevant one I could find. So I have never played smash competitively, but I want to start soon. I have no idea where to begin and I'm having lots of trouble deciding what game to actually play. I own a Wii and a 3DS, the only smash game I have is brawl (and project m) but I plan on getting smash on 3DS as soon as it comes out. So here's my question. Which of these three games should I play competitively? I just started playing project m so the feel of it is very different than what I'm used to from playing brawl. And from what I've played of the 3DS demo, I really like the way that game feels. I want to get the Wii U version when it comes out but I don't have much money or a way of getting money so I doubt I will be able to get the Wii U any time soon. I used to have Melee, but I sold it at a garage sale and now I regret it, I could buy a used copy but I don't think I could find one for cheap.

The big deal is I have a friend who has recently started playing competitively and he told me that most competitive players use project m. I want to get into competitive play, but I'm not sure if I want to do it with project m because playing that game doesn't feel right to me. But at the same time, I'm afraid if I try to go competitive with Brawl or the 3DS version, there won't be enough other players to compete against and I will regret it. Sorry for all that detail, I just feel thats the information I need people to know if they can answer my question which again is: Which game should I play competitively and how do I get into that? I don't necessarily want you to tell me what you prefer to play, I want you to tell me what you think would be best for me.

If I shouldn't be posting this here, please tell me so I can try to move this to a more appropriate board. (I'm new so I'm still getting used to this site)

Thanks for reading this really long thing and please leave feedback
~Pun

 

[ZeroJanitor]

I'd go with 3DS if I were you so you can be a part of the evolving metagame. People have been playing Brawl competitively for years and a lot of PM's metagame is carried over from Melee or Brawl, so it can be daunting to learn everything that's already in place and common knowledge among the communities. With 3DS, you can kinda learn alongside everyone else.

 

[puningtilde]

I'd go with 3DS if I were you so you can be a part of the evolving metagame. People have been playing Brawl competitively for years and a lot of PM's metagame is carried over from Melee or Brawl, so it can be daunting to learn everything that's already in place and common knowledge among the communities. With 3DS, you can kinda learn alongside everyone else.

Thanks so much for the feedback. For a while I thought nobody would respond. But yeah, I think I'd really like to get into competitive smash for 3DS, I can really see that working for me. I dont know what the word 'metagame' means though, if you could give me like a definition that'd be great. Thanks again for your idea, if anyone else would like to tell me their input, I'd be glad to receive it.
~Pun

 

[Deleted member]

You should definitely get into 3ds/brawl if theres a scene where you are! Play what you like, not what everyone else is playing. If you force yourself to play something you aren't comfortable with, it wont turn out well.

 

[shapular]

Definitely go with 3DS. It'll be the new game so it'll have the most players. You'll always be able to find people to play on For Glory, and there will probably be a big online community. Even if you don't get the Wii U version, you'll still be able to play it with people who have it and you can use your 3DS as a controller. Don't play Project M. It's not good for new players since it's more based on gimmicks than fundamentals, and you'll get a skewed idea of the Smash series.

 

[Deleted member]

I encourage you to get into the Smash 4 scene asap. Because you will have a lot of fun meeting new and old players alike, and learning a new game. PM is...very gimmicky like shapular said, but if you feel that's where you want to be then by all means go for it. If you have an active Brawl scene, you should definitely support it because it needs all the support it can get, if you like Brawl of course. I'd say Brawl gives you the best fundamentals for any smash.

 

[puningtilde]

Thanks so much all of you for your feedback, I think I'm definitely gona go with smash for 3ds for now. These messages really helped me out a lot. Thanks again. Oh, and one more question, will competitive smash for 3ds generally end when the wii u version comes out or do you think it will still be a thing? I don't wana get into something and see it be broken before a year.

 

[Thor]

You should definitely get into 3ds/brawl if theres a scene where you are! Play what you like, not what everyone else is playing. If you force yourself to play something you aren't comfortable with, it wont turn out well.

Stated perfectly.

If you care more about competition than just enjoying the game by yourself AND there's no scene for anything but PM/Melee, then those are games you'll have to get used to. But otherwise this perfectly.

Definitely go with 3DS. It'll be the new game so it'll have the most players. You'll always be able to find people to play on For Glory, and there will probably be a big online community. Even if you don't get the Wii U version, you'll still be able to play it with people who have it and you can use your 3DS as a controller. Don't play Project M. It's not good for new players since it's more based on gimmicks than fundamentals, and you'll get a skewed idea of the Smash series.

PM still teaches fundamentals, but I'd have to say that PM is the only game where you can learn some really janky stuff and just go crazy on people who would otherwise be your skill level or slightly above you in other Smash games (that is, they are better at reads, spacing, etc.). As an example, I can take games off someone I normally rarely beat in Melee because in PM I just play Lucario and attack their shields into double team or force palm, so that I can safely attack shields with grounded attacks (practically no one but Marth's dtilt has that luxury). I then avoid getting hit by KO moves so that I usually just live to like 180%, because Lucario has that sort of Doctor Mario weight (that is in Melee) where his fall speed is weird enough to be hard to combo into KO moves and he lives just long enough (for the record, it's rare that I don't live past 160% at least once each round I play Lucario, and he's at a light enough weight where Fox usmash will KO at about 110% regardless of DI, etc. (Dreamland and good DI accepted of course).

They're trying to make PM less gimmicky in some ways with 3.5, but no idea how that will turn out. One more upside to games that aren't PM; PM is a mod which means your character is subject to change, notably nerfs (some 2.6 Sonic mains quit because they couldn't play Sonic at all like they could in 2.6). I don't think that will happen in Smash 4, and I know it won't happen in Brawl.

 

[Metarai]

I dont know what the word 'metagame' means though, if you could give me like a definition that'd be great.

Metagame are the decisions that define the tournament play of the game. The most well known example of this is Metaknight. While he was known as a strong character from the start, as time went on people found new strategies and his metagame evolved to be much stronger than anyone else. Another example is Zelda, who was thought to be a middle tier at the beginning. As Brawl's metagame continued, people found flaws in Zelda, and she dropped. So, metagame is kinda like how much people know about the game, the strategies and counters to use. As people grow into the game, the metagame grows as well. Competitive and casual players can also have different metagames (Ex: Melee Jigglypuff) . I hoped this helped. If you want a better definition, you may want to look at this.
http://www.ssbwiki.com/Metagame

 

[puningtilde]

I'm still worried though. Will smash's 3DS competitive audience be diminished when smash for Wii U comes out? Or will it still be a thing. even with the lag between connections and stuff. Or is it too early to know for sure?