Omg wall of text inc.!
You know, as much as I'd like to be excited about a Smash 4, I simply have no hope for it. I honestly wish they would never make another smash game again. It's not that I don't welcome new content such as characters, and maps, it's just, I don't like the mantra Nintendo (and Sakurai) has taken over the past couple of years. They cater only to the casual audience these days, and Brawl is a perfect example of that. Just to spit in the face the Smash's biggest die hard fans (us), Sakurai included (or allowed the inclusion of) random tripping among other things in Brawl. Random tripping in a fighting game is a mechanic so asinine I can't even believe it exists.
To that end, I think it's utterly ridiculous that the devs waste precious time making "every aspect of the game, even the menues, a [game]." I mean, the extra junk that they included in Brawl is absolutely laughable. Why would we want a coin launching mini game when we could have.. more characters and levels? Speaking of levels, yeah Brawl had some nice ones, but why so many levels with unbelievable spam and otherwise "party-game" mechanics? Look at the level of hacking that has gone into many of Brawl's mods just to make more of the maps playable, or enjoyable? Stickers? Did anyone ACTUALLY use them? None of the collectible junk actually matters. Heck, we don't need a robust single player experience, that is, they shouldn't be spilling money into a portion of the game that few actually care about. The majority of their money and efforts should surround multiplayer aspects of the game, whether that's buying the rights to more 3rd party characters, or balancing the game better. Heck, why can't they communicate with the competitive community and have us personally play test it, and help balance it, like other games do? This may happen to an extent in street fighter, but I KNOW it happens with various RTS games, and MMOs, especially Red Alert 3, The Old Republic, etc.
Much of what they added to Brawl felt rushed, and there's really no reason for it. Want to save replays? Sure. But you had best beat your opponent in UNDER 3 MINUTES-- that might not have been a problem if the game wasn't so darned floaty, defensive, and slow. Oh wait, so you like to make levels? Oops, sorry, the map making options are so painfully limited, even the most basic of maps can't be made for even tournament use. Hey, what about online play? Two words: friend codes. I mean, come on? Beyond the friend codes, the button delay for online play is unbelievable. This delay is not present in other games on other consoles (even other fighting games). In the new Soul Caliber, for example, the models are far more detailed, the game is far more technically demanding, and the gameplay is just as responsive online as it would be against a friend sitting next to you. Yet here we have smash brawl, a far less demanding game and we have button lag? These are three MAJOR additions to Smash, additions that should have made Brawl an iconic entry in the series, all of which failed miserably.
I trust our own community with the future of Smash far more than I do the actual devs, because honestly... we know more about smash then they do. Perhaps that sounds ridiculous, but it's honestly true. Look at the guys behind Project Melee, many of them are far more in-tuned with what makes a good fighting game, down to the gritty details of hit boxes, hurt boxes, frame advantage, cancels, lag reduction, character gravity, momentum, frame data, etc. We know how characters are used in a competitive setting, a setting Nintendo and Sakurai often choose to snub, so why would anyone ever expect anything great after what they last gave us: Brawl.
I just can't wait for the day when Project Melee is done- thank God with have some of the most talented/active hackers of any gaming community.