Is it possible for Nintendo to balance through updates?

[Abomination713]

I was curious with the 3DS and Wii U version of SSB4 if Nintendo would be able to update characters from their skills, lag times, knock back, speed of skills, and power of skills through updates to the game? Have they confirmed they could do this anywhere? It concerns me since there are characters that could use some more love, but as of this time it's hard to justify even using them due to lack of power behind their attacks, how easy they are to destroy with just a few skills, small hit boxes when attacking, etc.

This is my biggest concern with the game right now and will decide if I even bother with it after a month or two since people will figure out a meta by that point in time.

 

[Nixon Corral]

Yes, the game can be patched in that way. Whether or not they'll do it is another question entirely.

 

[Spirst]

There's no doubt this is possible. They could make Wario's fsmash do 100% if they wanted to. Will they though? Well, for the example, of course not. But as for "balance"? Not drastically, I don't think. I think the patches will mostly address the outright bugs in the game such as Wario's momentum cancel glitch and so forth. I don't think the characters will be tweaked too much otherwise.

 

[Grantendo]

I certainly hope not. I dont want smash bros to become like World of Warcraft.... game balancing is better when it is simple, and Sakurai referenced game balance as a key component of the game. Every character has a weakness and a strength that can counter another character.

 

[Syrek]

They've already done patches and updates for Mario Kart 8 so I guarantee you we will see patches, updates and more in the coming months for Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS. It hasn't been officially confirmed but it's pretty much a given at this point.

 

[PCHU]

I think some of the hitboxes could use adjusting; it'd be nice to not always miss at point blank range while Rosaluma can just dash attack me from a few feet away and I still get hit.
I have no problem with them being slightly disjointed like in Brawl, but it'd be cool if more people had them (and if the hitboxes extended to the end of the attack rather than close to the end).

Also, attacks clash waaay too often and priority is a mess in general.
Trades I think I should win I just don't and get mauled because of it, causing me to play a campier game than what I'm accustomed to even in Brawl.
Some characters seem to hardly have any landing lag at all on their aerials while Wario gets stuck for half a year after his dair, and his nair hardly chains anymore, but I suppose that's more of a character gripe than a legit complaint.
Still, the hitbox thing seems to affect me more in this iteration than in Brawl.

 

[Fafnir]

I certainly hope not. I dont want smash bros to become like World of Warcraft.... game balancing is better when it is simple, and Sakurai referenced game balance as a key component of the game. Every character has a weakness and a strength that can counter another character.

Except that is not how game balance works at all, and that if you want an actually competitively viable game that has the slightest chance at a sustainable community, things need to be balanced all throughout, with as close to equal matchups for every character against every other.
That is why Blizzard is constantly patching and rebalancing their games. Game balance is better when it is simple, but it rarely ever is. Especially when there are so many variables that Smash brings to the table.

 

[Dragoomba]

Every character has a weakness and a strength that can counter another character.

Do you honestly believe this is the case right now?

 

[PCHU]

Do you honestly believe this is the case right now?

I've never wanted to just kill myself as much as I did when I had to fight Duck Hunt Dog as Donkey Kong.

As of right now, it seems as if most of the people online are able to get away with being bad at the game simply because the "casual" options are too good, and projectiles end up covering most of their mistakes by giving you an obstacle course to pass before you can make a read on their predictable habits.
This is the first time in my life that I would even think of calling Smash awful; I love the game, and this showed promise, but the shift in priority on characters and overall short hitboxes (aside from DHD, Rosaluma, Little Mac, and Shulk) are making for very, very tedious matches.
There's no good reason why Villager's tree coming up from the ground should KO me at 90-100% when I can't KO him with a smash off the top at 120%; the balance of power and speed is just putrid and it upsets me greatly to see such a boost be given to people who don't even know how to space.
Even in Brawl more casual players didn't have it so easy -- you at least had to go out into the fray as Snake and lay out all of the stuff yourself than have the game practically do it for you.
I like there being equality between players and similar ground; a challenge is always nice.
However, I don't want to resort to picking a character that can sit on the other side of the stage and hardly do anything; it's almost like I'm not even playing the game anymore.

Yeah, there's a little butthurt here, but for the most part, I can read everyone I've met so far, and in any other game, I'm sure they'd get wrecked a lot harder in close range if only because I could KO reliably and faster on top of reading every roll they make and capitalizing on their poor spacing.
It can be fun, but the neutral among the higher tiers is ridiculous and it'd be really cool if something was done about it.

 

[Grantendo]

Do you honestly believe this is the case right now?

For the most part yes. As PCHU said, duck hunt dog might be "easier" to play against donkey kong due to the fact that donkey kong has no ranged game, but I am willing to bet you that DK has more melee ability and will eventually K.O. given the proper spacing, etc. Did I say that it will be equally easy? No. All I am saying is that the player base will learn the severe disadvantages to these "good" casuals like little mac, villager, etc. For crying out loud the game has been out for 5 days people..

This is the first time in my life that I would even think of calling Smash awful; I love the game, and this showed promise, but the shift in priority on characters and overall short hitboxes (aside from DHD, Rosaluma, Little Mac, and Shulk) are making for very, very tedious matches.

Agreed. For some reason, people are recovering at 200% sometimes... a good f-smash in melee would KO at 60% lol.