J1NG
Smash Journeyman
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2008
- Messages
- 298
As creative director of the new Smash Bros., I'd like to preemptively announce that some of you will hate me. Some of my major decisions will be made with full knowledge of but little to no regard for certain of your personal wants and desires for the game.
For example:
<dragonslayer1998> J1NG PLEASE ADD RIDLEY!!!
<J1NG> No.
I have a vision. If you don't like it, there's the door >>
So far, we have 4 Smash games. Each one is unique, and each one has a dedicated fanbase to support it. To speak in broad terms, Smash 64 was the simplest and leanest Smash game. Melee was the fast, technical game for competitive gamers. Brawl was bigger, slower, and more accessible. Smash 4 is bigger than Brawl and gameplay-wise lies in between Melee and Brawl. The question I find myself asking is, where do we go from here?
What I plan to do is to encapsulate aspects from each of those games into Smash 5, which I will be calling... Smash 5.
How will I do this? What is my method?
I certainly do not want Smash to become M.U.G.E.N, and as such, I will not be adding any more than 32 characters. You don't like it? I already showed you where the door is. The philosophy of "more is better" is a load of childish hogwash. That is my first method, to put a limit on the roster size.
My second method is to limit the number of characters from a given franchise down to 4. Get your filthy Bowser Jr., Rosalina, and Greninja out of here. Feel the controversy. Controversy is good.
My third method is to choose only the most potent characters from a given series. Riffraff like Dr.Mario, Dark Pit, and Lucina are long gone. Even popular characters like Falco and EVEN LUIGI - cut.
<dragonslayer1998> YOU CAN'T DO THAT!! THEY'RE VETERANS!! YEAR OF LUIGI!!!
<J1NG> Already done.
How else am I planning to combine the games?
Each character is going to be an embodiment of their strongest outing(with some adjustments) from any Smash game. That's right, Melee Fox and Brawl Metaknight are in the same game as each other.
<dragonslayer1998> BUT MELEE FOX WAS SO OP!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??
<J1NG> Power levels of characters are going up in order to be on par with the strongest character in any Smash game, which is likely to be Melee's Fox.
A good guideline for which game a given character will be coming from includes the combination of viability, popularity, and thematic gameplay that they possessed in that game. In other words, some characters will possess/not possess any combination of the following: directional air dodge, zero lag l-cancelling, half lag l-cancelling, auto-cancelling, multi air dodge, ledge trump, chain grabs, and more while others will have a different combination, making for what I'm hoping will be an incomparable and unique roster. The idea is to spread out combinations of these so that no two characters have the exact same mechanics, making them harder to put onto a tier list.
How do I plan to balance the entire roster around the strongest character? Instead of giving characters free power in the form of buffs like "I'm going to increase this or that hit box size or increase this or that percent/knockback damage or give this character lower startup and landing lag etc etc", I'm going to give characters thematic and unique mechanics that no other character has.
So what do I consider a thematic buff? Let's use Ganondorf as an example. Ganondorf's thematic identity is big, slow, heavy, and powerful. If I wanted to buff Ganondorf, I'd give him the ability to charge all of his ground moves indefinitely, where the bonus power he gains by charging caps at his current %(so at 0%, the charge up gives his attack no bonus power, it's just for mix-ups). Charging his moves is in line with his attacks being about their power, but charged moves take longer than uncharged moves to come out, making him "slower" by the choice of the player. This is not free power (it can be a bad thing) because a player can wind up charging a move for too long and get punished for it, so in order for the change to become beneficial, it requires that the player use the mechanic skillfully. If the character still needs changes to get on Melee Fox's level, my options for buffs are going to revolve around these thematic mechanics as opposed to free power.
I have quite a few ideas for thematic buffs like these, but it would take quite a while to post them, maybe I'll do it later.
I'll likely choose some of the more favorite stages from each game. Ban-worthy features can be worked around by removing some of the obstacles (like removing Hyrule 64's tornado). Alpha and Omega versions of each stage would also be available (where Omega is a given stage made to be like Final Destination, Alpha would be a given stage made to be like Battlefield).
I'd add a few new options that I've mentioned before on these boards, such as:
Allowing characters to have access to an item inventory. Before a battle, players can pick up to 4 items from the item list and pull them out once per game using the taunt buttons.
I'd also add in a tag mode, where before a battle, players can choose multiple characters. Once per stock, during a battle(perhaps mid-combo and/or mid-hitstun), they can instantly swap their character out for another character, where the character being tagged in would appear wherever the tagged out character was. The number of characters you can choose before a battle is up to four, and duplicate characters cannot be on the same tag team.
I'd add in costumes for characters. Some characters would have alternate outfits, character costumes(complete with menu and character voice overs), or both.
I'd add in custom moves, similar to how Smash 4 does it. Though, I think I'd skip out on all of the stat-altering customizations, such as increased attack, defense, speed, etc. I know some of you would resent it to no end, but I would make certain characters playable via a combination of character costumes and custom moves (CONTROVERSY).
I'd also throw in a palette editor, where you can make your own custom color schemes for characters.
That's all I've got for now. Kudos to anyone who actually read through that.
<dragonslayer1998> This game sucks.
<J1NG> You can't please everyone.
For example:
<dragonslayer1998> J1NG PLEASE ADD RIDLEY!!!
<J1NG> No.
I have a vision. If you don't like it, there's the door >>
So far, we have 4 Smash games. Each one is unique, and each one has a dedicated fanbase to support it. To speak in broad terms, Smash 64 was the simplest and leanest Smash game. Melee was the fast, technical game for competitive gamers. Brawl was bigger, slower, and more accessible. Smash 4 is bigger than Brawl and gameplay-wise lies in between Melee and Brawl. The question I find myself asking is, where do we go from here?
What I plan to do is to encapsulate aspects from each of those games into Smash 5, which I will be calling... Smash 5.
How will I do this? What is my method?
I certainly do not want Smash to become M.U.G.E.N, and as such, I will not be adding any more than 32 characters. You don't like it? I already showed you where the door is. The philosophy of "more is better" is a load of childish hogwash. That is my first method, to put a limit on the roster size.
My second method is to limit the number of characters from a given franchise down to 4. Get your filthy Bowser Jr., Rosalina, and Greninja out of here. Feel the controversy. Controversy is good.
My third method is to choose only the most potent characters from a given series. Riffraff like Dr.Mario, Dark Pit, and Lucina are long gone. Even popular characters like Falco and EVEN LUIGI - cut.
<dragonslayer1998> YOU CAN'T DO THAT!! THEY'RE VETERANS!! YEAR OF LUIGI!!!
<J1NG> Already done.
How else am I planning to combine the games?
Each character is going to be an embodiment of their strongest outing(with some adjustments) from any Smash game. That's right, Melee Fox and Brawl Metaknight are in the same game as each other.
<dragonslayer1998> BUT MELEE FOX WAS SO OP!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING??
<J1NG> Power levels of characters are going up in order to be on par with the strongest character in any Smash game, which is likely to be Melee's Fox.
A good guideline for which game a given character will be coming from includes the combination of viability, popularity, and thematic gameplay that they possessed in that game. In other words, some characters will possess/not possess any combination of the following: directional air dodge, zero lag l-cancelling, half lag l-cancelling, auto-cancelling, multi air dodge, ledge trump, chain grabs, and more while others will have a different combination, making for what I'm hoping will be an incomparable and unique roster. The idea is to spread out combinations of these so that no two characters have the exact same mechanics, making them harder to put onto a tier list.
How do I plan to balance the entire roster around the strongest character? Instead of giving characters free power in the form of buffs like "I'm going to increase this or that hit box size or increase this or that percent/knockback damage or give this character lower startup and landing lag etc etc", I'm going to give characters thematic and unique mechanics that no other character has.
So what do I consider a thematic buff? Let's use Ganondorf as an example. Ganondorf's thematic identity is big, slow, heavy, and powerful. If I wanted to buff Ganondorf, I'd give him the ability to charge all of his ground moves indefinitely, where the bonus power he gains by charging caps at his current %(so at 0%, the charge up gives his attack no bonus power, it's just for mix-ups). Charging his moves is in line with his attacks being about their power, but charged moves take longer than uncharged moves to come out, making him "slower" by the choice of the player. This is not free power (it can be a bad thing) because a player can wind up charging a move for too long and get punished for it, so in order for the change to become beneficial, it requires that the player use the mechanic skillfully. If the character still needs changes to get on Melee Fox's level, my options for buffs are going to revolve around these thematic mechanics as opposed to free power.
I have quite a few ideas for thematic buffs like these, but it would take quite a while to post them, maybe I'll do it later.
I'll likely choose some of the more favorite stages from each game. Ban-worthy features can be worked around by removing some of the obstacles (like removing Hyrule 64's tornado). Alpha and Omega versions of each stage would also be available (where Omega is a given stage made to be like Final Destination, Alpha would be a given stage made to be like Battlefield).
I'd add a few new options that I've mentioned before on these boards, such as:
Allowing characters to have access to an item inventory. Before a battle, players can pick up to 4 items from the item list and pull them out once per game using the taunt buttons.
I'd also add in a tag mode, where before a battle, players can choose multiple characters. Once per stock, during a battle(perhaps mid-combo and/or mid-hitstun), they can instantly swap their character out for another character, where the character being tagged in would appear wherever the tagged out character was. The number of characters you can choose before a battle is up to four, and duplicate characters cannot be on the same tag team.
I'd add in costumes for characters. Some characters would have alternate outfits, character costumes(complete with menu and character voice overs), or both.
I'd add in custom moves, similar to how Smash 4 does it. Though, I think I'd skip out on all of the stat-altering customizations, such as increased attack, defense, speed, etc. I know some of you would resent it to no end, but I would make certain characters playable via a combination of character costumes and custom moves (CONTROVERSY).
I'd also throw in a palette editor, where you can make your own custom color schemes for characters.
That's all I've got for now. Kudos to anyone who actually read through that.
<dragonslayer1998> This game sucks.
<J1NG> You can't please everyone.
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