Imagine a drastic change of graphics...

[Graizen]

Imagine that Nintendo revealed during E3 that the next Super Smash Bros would be a game made entirely in Pixels.
Do not speak of any level of Pixels, but rather the most perfect and well-done level of Pixel Art you can imagine.
What would you think about it?
1 - Would it be good for the game?
2 - Would it allow more characters to enter the game?
3 - What would be your reaction to seeing this for the first time?

 

[Atem]

I personally think this would be an overall decrease in quality. It would in my opinion make the game feel less solid. I usual have this problem with SSF2. I do believe it could have more characters with the pixels but a lot of the attacks would be a little less flashy. If this was announced I would be pretty sad because ever smash game has an increase in quality (except for Brawl in my opinion). I am not against pixel animation but 3D models have been the norm for all smash games and would be an overall decrease from smash 4 and possibly Melee.

 

[NintendoKnight]

As interesting as that style is, I'd prefer the hand-drawn style used by Skullgirls.

That being said, I do prefer certain games remain in the form they originated in. I think Street Fighter looked a bit better with pixel art (especially 3rd Strike), and I firmly believe that Smash Bros should remain in 3D. (Hence why I've avoided Super Smash Flash and Rivals of Aether).

Going off what A Atem said, it does make the game feel less solid. Though I feel it would be better to describe that in 3D the characters feel like they are actually occupying that physical space; whereas 2D games cannot hope to match that virtual sensation of density and character presence. There's a weighty-ness and impact that can't be replicated otherwise. The characters actually feel like they're on each stage that makes up the combat zone.

 

[JawshGray]

If it were to receive a graphics/art style change, I would vastly prefer Skullgirls as well.

 

[ryuu seika]

While SSF2 does it's best to mitigate the issue, variable zoom will never be fully compatible with pixel art. I vote against.

 

[FamicomDisk]

I wouldn’t like the change, personally. Smash is fine with the 3D models.

It would also make developing characters significantly harder. With a model, once it’s done, you can just move it around - but every frame of animation in a sprite must be done manually. I find this often leads to animations in fighting games feeling stiff since they’re so fast paced and the sprites change quickly. I’d also think that this would lead to less characters, since drawing all the sprites would take a lot longer.

I wouldn’t mind if it was a gimmick in a specific level, though! Maybe there could be an Odyssey level with a 2D section where everyone turns 8-bit.

 

[Sir Ridley XII]

If we get a full-on handheld successor to the 3DS version (which shouldn't just be a carbon copy of the console version with an identical roster and so forth), this type of art style could look nice on it to differentiate it even further.

 

[Weeman]

I think the 3D models have made smash feel like, well, smash.
Like you're actually playing with dolls of these characters, it gives them a tangible feeling.
If there was an artstyle change i'd go with some stylized 3D models kinda like SF IV or DB FighterZ

 

[Crystanium]

People are saying "3D". I was under the impression that the series was 2.5D.

I wouldn't mind if there was any graphical change, as long as it didn't look outdated.

 

[ryuu seika]

People are saying "3D". I was under the impression that the series was 2.5D.

2.5D isn't really a thing. It's just shorthand for "2D gameplay with a 3D art style".

 

[Crystanium]

2.5D isn't really a thing. It's just shorthand for "2D gameplay with a 3D art style".

I find that to be an oversimplification. Many things can have a 3D art style and would be considered "3D" because of its length, height, and depth, even though the drawing itself is flat. It'd be more accurate to say that 2.5D is when an image appears to have depth in gaming, when in fact it does not. Hence another name, "pseudo-3D". So 2.5D is "a thing".

 

[Cyclone studios]

Ooh...so you guys hate Flash?..well there Goes my Fan Smash Game down the Hole.. ¤_¤

 

[MrRoidley]

1. I really can't say, depends on how they pull it of
2. I don't think so, I don't think an artstyle makes or breaks a character
3. I definitely would react negatively at first. Maybe I could grow to love it though

 

[Swaggy-G]

Nah. 2D has its place but I feel that smash should stick to 3D. Plus fully animating a character in high quality sprites takes a lot more work than 3D modeling. Not really feasible with a roster of Smash's size.

 

[Eternal phoenix Fire]

I think considering the physics of the game, and the amount of inconsistencies that occur with collision and character overlapping, there would have to be an inconceivable amount of pixels drawn for each potential scenario (things like footing, wind physics, and teching come to mind). It actually seems nearly impossible. While something like Dragonball FighterZ is possible, the illusion is created from viewing the characters from specific angles. Smash does not have the luxury of having a simple camera.

I honestly wouldn’t like it since I know the amount of effort put into it would never amount to the quality of a solid 3D modeled game. I’m good.

 

[MBRedboy31]

I can imagine this looking pretty cool, although 3D is definitely better for a game like this (As has been generally pointed out, a style switch would require significant cuts, plus things like full costumes would be impractical) plus 3D allows for things like more unique stage designs and whatnot.

While SSF2 does it's best to mitigate the issue, variable zoom will never be fully compatible with pixel art. I vote against.

I honestly disagree, I prefer the dynamic camera in SSF2 over having the zoom be fixed (like in RoA.) Even in Smash with 3D models, stages where the camera can’t zoom in all the way (and don’t have a good reason to stay zoomed out, like when there are significant stage hazards or important items around) bother me a bit.

Ooh...so you guys hate Flash?..well there Goes my Fan Smash Game down the Hole.. ¤_¤

It’s not so much that we hate Flash, it’s more to do with the fact that Flash objectively has a lot of significant downsides. It isn’t graphically efficient (it can’t even use your computer’s full power, GPU’s can’t help it), you can’t have proper palette swaps (just look at the costumes in SSF2,) and it is going to be phased out in a few years anyway.

 

[nirvanafan]

Not going to lie I never really thought about a 2.5D Smash. Not sure if it would work but I am kind of curious and there is some potential for a new mode or maybe it becomes a key in a game to reinvent the franchise like Zelda & BotW. I always kind of thought they would go right to 3D like Power Stones if they tried something like this though.