AccountsDept
Smash Cadet
So of course the new big mode is 8-Player Smash, and along with customs, miis, and stock counts, it's another big debate on the list that we need to handle.
I'm here to argue that instead of 4v4, we should opt for a 3v3 setup instead. Or, at the very least, have 3v3 available as another option. To give an overview, what separates squads from doubles is that the sheer amount of specials, projectiles, and abilities in the game can be used to a much bigger and broader level (especially with team attack on), and the large amounts of variables creates an entirely new and different way you're forced to play the game, where as doubles isn't that much of a jarring shift.
However, 4v4 matches, from my experience, at least, are too hectic. The two extra players make a monumental difference in the spectator's ability to keep track of what's going on, and the commentators often only get to, well, really "comment" on the macro details and point out when people have lost a stock (though often times they probably only notice after-the-fact when they see the explosion and piece together who actually died).
To play, I think they're not much better. It's hard to focus on team-play when they'res just so many hit-boxes being thrown out at once and you can't really pay enough attention to everything to help your team mates, and even if you could, you're being walled out by not only enemy hitboxes, but also teammate hitboxes. And, the solution then seems to be "turn team attack off", and while that may fix it, the same problem with team attack in the first place arises once again and a lot of the special flare squads had is diminished by the fact that the team strategies with characters like Villager, Ness, Lucario, Jiggs, and etc. are gone without the ability to hit your teammates.
Now while i'm not going to say 3v3 is totally down to earth, it's certainly much easier to comprehend in the long run, and the team strategies, while a bit strangled, still exist to an extent that they don't in doubles.
My second point comes with the stage list. There are only three viable stages for eight players, and it's Big Battlefield, Omegas, and Windy Hill - and the latter two are debatable. Other available stages are either banned for hazards or simply impossible to play because of the lack of crucial space.
I've been doing solo testing in 3v3, just to see how easy it is to keep track of /me/, and thinking of the match from an outsider standpoint, and it lacks this problem. Here are the stages i found playable in 3v3 :
* Marks a stage that in the recent 1.0.2. update, has had it's hazards gutted in eight player mode.
Big Battlefield
Windy Hill
Omegas
* Pyrosphere
* Norfair
The list is bigger, obviously, but there were some other stages that I was on the fence on but could be playable.
Kongo Jungle 64
Lylat Cruise
* Pokemon Stadium 2
Duck Hunt
Smashville
Town and City
Chances are people will have different feelings about the legality of those above.
3v3 still might not catch on, but it has much more of a chance, at least from my perspective. I want your thoughts.
I'm here to argue that instead of 4v4, we should opt for a 3v3 setup instead. Or, at the very least, have 3v3 available as another option. To give an overview, what separates squads from doubles is that the sheer amount of specials, projectiles, and abilities in the game can be used to a much bigger and broader level (especially with team attack on), and the large amounts of variables creates an entirely new and different way you're forced to play the game, where as doubles isn't that much of a jarring shift.
However, 4v4 matches, from my experience, at least, are too hectic. The two extra players make a monumental difference in the spectator's ability to keep track of what's going on, and the commentators often only get to, well, really "comment" on the macro details and point out when people have lost a stock (though often times they probably only notice after-the-fact when they see the explosion and piece together who actually died).
To play, I think they're not much better. It's hard to focus on team-play when they'res just so many hit-boxes being thrown out at once and you can't really pay enough attention to everything to help your team mates, and even if you could, you're being walled out by not only enemy hitboxes, but also teammate hitboxes. And, the solution then seems to be "turn team attack off", and while that may fix it, the same problem with team attack in the first place arises once again and a lot of the special flare squads had is diminished by the fact that the team strategies with characters like Villager, Ness, Lucario, Jiggs, and etc. are gone without the ability to hit your teammates.
Now while i'm not going to say 3v3 is totally down to earth, it's certainly much easier to comprehend in the long run, and the team strategies, while a bit strangled, still exist to an extent that they don't in doubles.
My second point comes with the stage list. There are only three viable stages for eight players, and it's Big Battlefield, Omegas, and Windy Hill - and the latter two are debatable. Other available stages are either banned for hazards or simply impossible to play because of the lack of crucial space.
I've been doing solo testing in 3v3, just to see how easy it is to keep track of /me/, and thinking of the match from an outsider standpoint, and it lacks this problem. Here are the stages i found playable in 3v3 :
* Marks a stage that in the recent 1.0.2. update, has had it's hazards gutted in eight player mode.
Big Battlefield
Windy Hill
Omegas
* Pyrosphere
* Norfair
The list is bigger, obviously, but there were some other stages that I was on the fence on but could be playable.
Kongo Jungle 64
Lylat Cruise
* Pokemon Stadium 2
Duck Hunt
Smashville
Town and City
Chances are people will have different feelings about the legality of those above.
3v3 still might not catch on, but it has much more of a chance, at least from my perspective. I want your thoughts.
