Making smash commentary better

[Riio]

First off I'd just like to thank everyone that has commentated for smash - it's not an easy job and can take a lot out of you, so I'm glad there are people willing to put forth the effort to do that for the community. Still, I think some small changes can make smash commentary even better.

The biggest issue at the moment is rapport between commentators - often times we'll have two knowledgeable people on the mic but one of them is constantly saying "no, I think..." or "actually..." or "no way, he..." At best the commentator that's doing the denying is completely right and the viewer has learned a minute detail about the match or a player's history or whatever, and at worst there's unnecessary tension, awkwardness, and just a lack of comfortable rapport between the two commentators. There's a lot of improvisation in commentary and one of the guidelines of good improv is saying "yes, and..." You should add onto the scene/situation, not take away.

I think most of the time the commentator that's saying "no" is just trying to keep the viewer well-informed, but it kinda sucks for hype building and enjoyment of the match in general when the commentators keep trying to one-up each other. The most egregious offender is KirbyKaze who's knowledgeable about the game but should probably never touch a mic again, but Wobbles is somewhat guilty too and Dogy has been doing a lot of this at Apex 2013. Commentary is a lot more enjoyable when you do what Wife and Prog do and say, "You're completely right, and [adds onto analysis]." Thoughts?

 

[Kink-Link5]

Correcting misinformation should of course be a high priority for commentators. Is there some reason you have an issue with it, or is this about something else?

I just want a color commentator and a play-by-play guy. Prog and KK, or an older player like Ken with Wobbles.

 

[Jockmaster]

I think Dogy and Prog do a good job

I enjoyed their commentary earlier, they have a very professional vibe. Great balance of entertainment and play by play

Most of the time smash commentary falls short because people just go "ohhhh!!" And tell stories about themselves as opposed to giving an educated view of matchups and strategy

 

[Bad Cupboard]

Sometimes super educated commentary gets tiring.

Don't get me wrong, I love our commentators right now, but imagine if Waffles hadn't been commentating Mango vs Armada at genesis 1. We don't always need to have someone telling us what we're already seeing.

 

[Mr.Jackpot]

Not sure if I was the only one but I really liked IE on commentary yesterday.

 

[Lawlb0t]

Commentary is excellent. The synergy is good. There is many new people on the chat actually who have never saw or been to a Melee tournament before and from what I am hearing they are talking about a wide array of information that informs viewers about match ups, stages, combos, glitches, etc.

 

[prog]

Hey gang.

Commentary is really weird right now. Because of twitch, over 12,000 people were watching the event. We had guys who are tournament players, as well as people who've never seen a wavedash, let alone an L-Cancel. Because of that, I was trying to see if I could implement some explanation of advanced techniques and what not mid commentary. I know a lot of people know everything, but I wanted to explain why I was trying to have things like that explained.

 

[fabulouspants]

dogysammich easily one of the WORST commentators i've heard in video games period.

literally on par with CORN commentary from the bifuteki stream.

 

[oksas]

wut

i like dogy a lot

 

[The Business]

dogy's really good, some of his metagame information is outdated. if that really bothers you that much then idk what to tell you.

 

[Onomanic]

Hey gang.

Commentary is really weird right now. Because of twitch, over 12,000 people were watching the event. We had guys who are tournament players, as well as people who've never seen a wavedash, let alone an L-Cancel. Because of that, I was trying to see if I could implement some explanation of advanced techniques and what not mid commentary. I know a lot of people know everything, but I wanted to explain why I was trying to have things like that explained.

And good on you for it, Prog. I remember the commentary from MLG's past on Ken vs Azen. The commentary was really good, and I especially enjoyed how they explained most of the more advanced stuff. It makes the information more accessible and easier to sync up to what you see on stream.

 

[Proskater]

dogysammich easily one of the WORST commentators i've heard in video games period.

literally on par with CORN commentary from the bifuteki stream.

I agree wholeheartedly.
He spews useless nonsense and it makes me laugh/rage out of flabbergastery frequently.
I don't really know if flabbergastery is a word.

 

[Juggleguy]

After re-watching some of Melee top 8 when I got back to the hotel, I still think no other commentator in the Melee community comes close to Wobbles in terms of consistency and professionalism. I wish he could have had the chance to commentate during the final few sets.

 

[JacopeX]

Did anyone catch the Links Vs. Stinks Crew battle? Because all I have to say that it was one of the best commentating I have ever heard. During Green Ranger vs. a link player, InternetExplorer and Strong Bad pulled off some intense commentating while laying out the knowledge and infomartion of their mains and trying to apply them to the match up. It was pretty good and the intensity of the match with the equally instense commentating really made the match a lot more hype than it was supposed to be FOR ME.

Not trying to say these guys should commentate every major/tournament from now on but we need more commentating like this. Knowledge, some good and up to date presentation of facts, valid and consistent explanation of what is going on and what each player should do/is doing, a way to get viewers into the match, etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2iNPLDAhNA

32:00
35:30

But I did like the overall commentary at Apex. Pretty solid so far.

 

[KanyeRest]

wobbles/prog>dogy/prog, though both are good pairings

i like how apex exudes professionalism and has commentators that reflect this, but genesis and WC have phil and HMW, who represent another great side of smash commentary, the hype and hilarity

basically i just think smash commentary is great right now

 

[Gea]

On the whole I thought Melee commentary was all around solid. There were ups and downs and always room to improve. I don't think we're the best of the FGC commentary yet or anything but it's a pretty stark contrast with the Brawl commentary this year which was just... bad on all levels. Offensive, but not even in a funny way. Whoever let Pierce near a mic again made some grievous errors.

Best commentator overall is still Wife, hands down far and away. Prog, you did good. Be proud.

 

[fabulouspants]

oh dogy was bad but at least it wasn't as bad as the blatant "ISAI SO GOOOOOD HE SO GOOOD DA BESTTT" **** riding that was the ssb64 commentary.

 

[rokimomi]

someone teach coontail melee and get him to commentate our matches

 

[Battlecow]

Commentary was pretty good IMO

I liked some of wobbles' one liners a lot

honestly I was screaming and dancing a lot and hugging the guys watching it with me and generally not listening so I'm not sure I'm qualified to comment

 

[rjgbadger]

prog did a whole lot better at this apex than he has in recent commentary(see apex 2012). overall i was much more content than when he is phagging up everything. however i do not like twitter being any part of the tournament, and believe that twitter, or anyone who cares about twitter needs to re-assess how dumb it is (9/10 a coherent being realises this)

 

[Revven]

I've read outside of Smashboards (namely, NeoGAF) that people really, really enjoyed Prog, D1's, and Dogy's commentary. They enjoyed how educational and also hype-inducing it was, despite there being a few missteps here and there (but that's to be expected with such intense and fast pace matches).

All we need now are just those quick, 30 second videos that explain/demonstrate these things to people that we can air while players are stage striking, counterpicking, looking up rules, warming up etc. and we would be TOTALLY set.

 

[EastCoastEddie]

I think D1 does a fantastic job as well as prog.

 

[Riio]

yeah I really enjoyed D1 and Prog together, and the explanations for stream viewers unfamiliar with melee was well done. apex commentary was definitely very professional overall

 

[BTmoney]

Prog is/was legendary

D1 is always nice

You can't even complain about Wobbles

I actually liked Dogy better this year than last year

The only problem I have is when there are people just yelling and trying to be hype but sounding corny. (HMW never did that, he had perfect hype commentary)
And I did not see that at apex.

You know what is great? G$ and Prog. G$ is well spoken, knowledgable, and has a personality.

I think people like him a perfect because they are good players who can point out some of the finesse you may not have seen or appreciated but are humble enough to not blow down on people.

 

[Omni]

If you want to improve on Melee commentary, just watch old videos of Wife commentating.

IMO, he's still the King of Commentary.

 

[iRobinhoood]

Hey gang.

Commentary is really weird right now. Because of twitch, over 12,000 people were watching the event. We had guys who are tournament players, as well as people who've never seen a wavedash, let alone an L-Cancel. Because of that, I was trying to see if I could implement some explanation of advanced techniques and what not mid commentary. I know a lot of people know everything, but I wanted to explain why I was trying to have things like that explained.

I felt you did a great job.

 

[KrIsP!]

@Badger Your delusional if you don't think twitter did a better job of promoting the stream than...I dunno most things...did more than you did #womenssoccer #megabus #mangonation #umad

But for real, all those big FGC names retweeting melee and now we got skisonic on melee it on me. Oh and dogys play by play when bifuteki went down kept me safe at night.

 

[Bad Cupboard]

Commentary this Apex was really good.
Good work to everyone who took the mic

 

[prog]

I'll be honest, I was really using twitter as a crutch during downtime. At this point, we don't have those filler videos (I guess I should get started on that, huh), and we had to do something to kill time. Plus, promotion via social media never hurts, I work in television and we're trying really hard to implement it.

 

[♡ⓛⓞⓥⓔ♡]

There are a lot of good commentators in the scene in my opinion, Wife was an excellent commentator and I wish he came back.

Something people need to realize though is that "good" commentary is somewhat matter of an opinion because there are different styles. I think Prog and Dogy are extremely professional and educational but they cannot bring same kind of hype to the commentary as Waffles. This is again, my opinion. I enjoy various types on commentary, optimally good commentary should be professional, entertaining, educational, insightful, funny and extremely hype-inducing. I think Dogy's and Prog's commentary is very professional and educational but not very funny nor hype-inducing.

 

[ZelDan]

I don't see what's wrong with a commentator disagreeing with another commentator or correcting the other one as long as they are respectful and professional about it.

Didn't really have much issue with any of the commentating I heard yesterday night personally, although I probbaly wasn't listening to it or focus non it as much as others due to multitasking.

 

[Construct]

Hey gang.

Commentary is really weird right now. Because of twitch, over 12,000 people were watching the event. We had guys who are tournament players, as well as people who've never seen a wavedash, let alone an L-Cancel. Because of that, I was trying to see if I could implement some explanation of advanced techniques and what not mid commentary. I know a lot of people know everything, but I wanted to explain why I was trying to have things like that explained.

Prog, your commentary has been and continues to be nothing short of fantastic. Your work with Dogy and D1 back at Apex 2012 is without a doubt what pushed me from "wow this game looks kind of cool, but it's probably way too hard" to "I could definitely get into this". Keep up the amazing work man, it is very much appreciated.

 

[BTmoney]

Prog, your commentary has been and continues to be nothing short of fantastic. Your work with Dogy and D1 back at Apex 2012 is without a doubt what pushed me from "wow this game looks kind of cool, but it's probably way too hard" to "I could definitely get into this". Keep up the amazing work man, it is very much appreciated.

Excellent post

 

[SaixXIsaVII]

All we need is Wobbles and Waffles.

 

[DerfMidWest]

Wobbles is the best commentator the world has ever seen. Period.
Kk and lovage commentaries are also very enjoyable.

 

[SaixXIsaVII]

Wobbles for Information and Waffles for the Ultra Hype :D

 

[Omni]

Wobbles for Information and Waffles for the Ultra Hype :D

What if told you there once lived a man who's commentary was not only extremely informative, but at the same time... ultra hype?

And his name begins with a W.

 

[Svetsunov]

I honestly like Dogy up until he's talking about Doc.

Wobbles is great though.

 

[Proskater]

All we need is Wobbles and Waffles.

This would be an epic combo

 

[MikeHaggarTHAKJB]

I have the best commentary in the universe, noone can match the mighty Mike Swaggar.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ox4I28Hxuw