Is competitive Smash 4 already dead?

[Saikyoshi]

I've been seeing more and more people going back to P:M and Melee lately. Is Smash 4 really bad enough for the fanbase to completely abandon it within two months of release? Because things really do look pretty desolate right now, or at least as heavily and firmly divided as Brawl's twilight years.

 

[Kozmiic27]

Well its not like its gonna go as far as melee, but maybe for a year at least. Wait till a pro player makes a low tier character look good

 

[ZelDan]

Wait until this upcoming Apex, maybe?

I'm intrigued to see how the attendance for that game will turn out in comparison to the other 3 games.

 

[Kozmiic27]

Melee > 64 > Sm4sh > Brawl
(My thoughts on how sm4shs competitive scene willcstaxk up with the others)

 

[Desert Croc]

I do no think Smash 4 is dead yet. It should last a year or two. There's no way a highly anticipated game would just be thrown out that easily.

Anyway, I'm guessing that some people like P:M/Melee better because of the faster gameplay (and maybe because some of them were not satisfied with the roster).

 

[Deleted member]

Have to keep in mind that just because something isn't the most popular doesn't mean it's "dead".

And people are clearly playing this game. Haha.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

The game came out less than a month ago.

If we already gave up on it then that says more about the fanbase then the game.

 

[mimgrim]

No.

/thread

 

[LancerStaff]

Hell no.

(10 character limit.)

Edit:

 

[S2]

I'd say it's thriving if we're looking at the number of tournaments being run and the game's streaming popularity on Twitch.

There are going to be players who would rather just keep playing Melee, P.M., or whichever version they preferred prior to Smash U. And that's fine. Really, it's to be expected. This happens in other fighting game franchises too, there are some players that pour a lot of time into an entry and they're always going to prefer it even if sequels come out. Playing Melee and playing Smash 4 aren't mutually exclusive and everyone is going to have their own opinion on whether they like one or both.

 

[Vaidya]

Those who abandon the game already are not true Smash fans. If you play Melee only, you are not a legit Smash fan. Just a fanboy who doesn't know how to play videogames that aren't like your favorite game.

 

[HeroMystic]

Dead? What gave you that impression? Even Brawl survived until everyone flocked to Smash 4.

 

[aethermaster]

I'll admit I am worried about the future of this game but the way I see it is that if it dies and people flock back to Melee/PM, that says something about the toxicity of us as a fighting game community and shows everybody else that we're not to be taken seriously.

 

[XJ9]

It's a matter of time. The competitive scene for SSB4 hasn't really begun to take flight whereas Melee has been around for AGES, Brawl was somewhat of a letdown with a lot of changes they made, in a casual sense I liked Brawl for friends and family, although it definitely was a casual game.

Realistically though and what would make the most sense would be for Project M to remain the competitive Smash Bros, hell they could even contract the Project M people and that could be their job, managing the competitive side of a game via mod. This would allow the creators to focus on their target audience whilst Project M could focus on implementing competitive changes. It's a bit of a stretch but I think it'd be a really cool idea. Only issue I can truly see is the fact they'd constantly have to change games upon releases, but each Smash Bros lasts like what, six years?

People need to learn to understand this: Smash Bros was meant as a FOR FUN game, they never expected it to have a competitive scene and I'm personally convinced a lot of changes in Brawl like random tripping and the removal of some techniques was Sakurai or someone blatantly slapping the competitive scene in the face. I can probably dig up the exact words but Sakurai pretty much said he didn't want Smash Bros to be competitive. The competitive scene more or less is a unwanted child in his eyes. He didn't want it but it's there and here to stay.

 

[lijero13ss]

Lol of course not!

 

[Qzzy]

This game isn't dying, people are just in the lab figuring things out. The console game just got released. Also, it's the holidays. A lot of people are probably working or finishing finals or visiting family, etc.

I'm in Socal, and the PM group over here thinks attendance is dying b/c of Smash 4. LOL. Everyone is accusing the other games of stealing players.

I honestly think this game will be at least more popular than Brawl for much longer, which was huge for quite some time. Maybe even larger than melee. (I'm primarily a melee & 64 fellow, want to put more time into this game.) It has just as much accessibility as Brawl while addressing the last game's complaints of speed and defense. It may be too slow and defensive for some (or many?) melee and PM players, but overall i think this game hits the sweet spot for gamers in general.

 

[HeroMystic]

I can probably dig up the exact words but Sakurai pretty much said he didn't want Smash Bros to be competitive. The competitive scene more or less is a unwanted child in his eyes. He didn't want it but it's there and here to stay.

Half true. He didn't exactly say he wanted Brawl to be uncompetitive, but rather he held a disdain for Melee because it was too technical and lacked accessibility. Overall he made Brawl to be more accessible and more focused on having fun (hence his "message" through adding tripping) rather than competition. We all seen how that turned out though.

He does understand the desire for tournament play, but it just isn't his focus. Fortunately for us, it seems Nintendo is now supporting our scene.

 

[Venus of the Desert Bloom]

The competitive scene for Smash 4 is still advancing so I wouldn't call it dead yet. Give it some time before casting stones or worrying whether it will be competitively viable or not. In addition, please be mindful when making comments about how people choose to play Smash.