Fields - Ultimate's Great
Smash Ace
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2020
- Messages
- 691
True! There's a middle ground to have rather than completely throwing out main leads for random sides.
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Cuts aren't an intrinsic bad like some (i.e. Smash fans) are convinced they are, and this is coming from a guy who lost his main as a kid. They're a healthy part of most fighting games that can make way for fun, new ideas while giving people time to miss the oldies and make their eventual comeback more impactful. This is why I view Mewtwo's absence in Brawl, baffling a decision as it was, as a net positive since it made his return in Smash 4 that much cooler. On the extreme end, I actually think rotating rosters for fighting games are pretty cool for this reason, and it's also why I think it'd be a largely good thing for the next Smash game to be a departure from Ultimate. Now that we've had all the characters in one game, we can definitely afford to trim some fat roster-wise.
That's to say nothing of how EIH has tainted other crossover fighter discourse, but just look at what the NASB2 thread was like from August to November last year if you wanna know about all that.
Stuff like this is why I honestly don't think I'd like DrifloonEmpire 's proposal as much; I don't miss most of the vets from 1, and most of the new guys from 2 are just unambiguously good picks (at best, you've got Gerald, Gertie, Rocksteady, and maybe Azula to work with if you're gonna argue the contrary). At worst, I'd say we broke even, but again, fighting game rosters are just incredibly unimportant to me compared to the game's mechanics and how fun each individual character is.This is a fair stance to have and all, but my point in bringing up SFIII in particular isn't that Smash can or should do something like this. It's more an extreme example that cuts are not purely subtractive, just as inclusions aren't purely additive. The individual choices made matter more than the very existence of cuts themselves. You can argue that more is more and cuts should be avoided if possible, but frankly, I can't agree.
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A 36-character roster is not necessarily better than a 25-character roster; I'm in the camp that thinks nothing of value was lost when Lincoln was cut, and a bunch of the other cut picks didn't do anything for me either. (Yes, I think adding two Turtles and cutting the other two was a perfectly defensible decision. Crucify me.)
Also, do you guys legitimately think Rocksteady is this obscure bit player? Even before NASB discourse force-fed me every bit of TMNT trivia you could imagine through cultural osmosis, I knew Bebop and Rocksteady not only as core TMNT imagery, but outright core 1980s cartoon imagery. That's a weird thing, a lot of platfighter fans really don't know anything about the 80s... Duck Hunt is a meme pick, Beetlejuice and Gizmo are more obscure than Samurai Jack... insane.Massive IMO for everything said here, but - maybe how Ludosity-pilled I am is coming out - I don't think there are many essential Smash characters, at least from an exclusively objective "iconic = better" perspective. There are many essential series, but from a strictly iconic perspective, you could count the truly essential characters on one hand, and most of them would be because of their popularity in Smash as an individual entity. Is there anyone who knows Fox McCloud outside of Smash who doesn't also at least remember the name "Peppy Hare"? Sure, the dog is the most remembered part of Duck Hunt, but a dogless duck would just as equally carry the message of "THIS IS DUCK HUNT FOR NES". When there are 151 Pokemon in its most popular era alone, and the series' appeal is based around choosing your favourite, how big a fish is Pikachu in the sea? At the time of Smash 64's release, Diddy Kong had more starring roles than DK (3v2), and you could argue arcade-era DK has stronger iconography in the mainstream conciousness than Country, putting Jr. on the table as a viable substitute (plus Young Cranky if you consider that a seperate character - in which case you also eliminate one of the essentials I agree on, as Link has been swapped out multiple times). Way more people have played as Daisy than you might think over in the "platformers are the main series" die-hard fandom echo chamber, and it's very, very close to the amount of people who have played as Peach. The Squid Sisters consistently draw packed crowds for hologram concerts, and Isabelle needs no saying.
this is just how fandoms work. anything they don’t like is not normal has it ever been specialWell, by pure coincidence - Lincolnposting came back the exact same day I posted this. Just swap out some names for Nick characters and bam, mostly applicable.
Also, do you guys legitimately think Rocksteady is this obscure bit player? Even before NASB discourse force-fed me every bit of TMNT trivia you could imagine through cultural osmosis, I knew Bebop and Rocksteady not only as core TMNT imagery, but outright core 1980s cartoon imagery. That's a weird thing, a lot of platfighter fans really don't know anything about the 80s... Duck Hunt is a meme pick, Beetlejuice and Gizmo are more obscure than Samurai Jack... insane.
Speaking personally, it's less that I think Rocksteady's a bad pick (his moveset looks neat, for what it's worth) and more that most people consider him being playable in a game without all four Turtles (or Shredder, or Bebop) to be questionable. Again, don't agree it's all that important, but I can't really argue with that line of reasoning.Also, do you guys legitimately think Rocksteady is this obscure bit player? Even before NASB discourse force-fed me every bit of TMNT trivia you could imagine through cultural osmosis, I knew Bebop and Rocksteady not only as core TMNT imagery, but outright core 1980s cartoon imagery. That's a weird thing, a lot of platfighter fans really don't know anything about the 80s... Duck Hunt is a meme pick, Beetlejuice and Gizmo are more obscure than Samurai Jack... insane.
I'm going to try and be chill about this, but your entire post that you're... advertising? here is full of holes.Well, by pure coincidence - Lincolnposting came back the exact same day I posted this. Just swap out some names for Nick characters and bam, mostly applicable.
Also, do you guys legitimately think Rocksteady is this obscure bit player? Even before NASB discourse force-fed me every bit of TMNT trivia you could imagine through cultural osmosis, I knew Bebop and Rocksteady not only as core TMNT imagery, but outright core 1980s cartoon imagery. That's a weird thing, a lot of platfighter fans really don't know anything about the 80s... Duck Hunt is a meme pick, Beetlejuice and Gizmo are more obscure than Samurai Jack... insane.
Also gonna repost this graphic I made a while back and have used a few times - keep in mind these are characters literally created by Ludosity, they'd know everything about every character. NASB being the way it is shouldn't be a surprise if you know Ludo, NASB not being MORE of the way it is would be the surprise
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I think you're talking to a brick wall on that front, remember, WWW insists that characters are just functions...despite also being insistent on characters that clearly aren't chosen by him for the gameplay functions they'd provide.Or how people got upset when MvCI's devs said "characters are just functions
The discourse around Hugh definitely gave me this vibe of “only the main character matters” because if you got all your information about Hugh from those discussions you’d assume he’s a one-off bit character and not one of the main characters with several spotlight episodes and the most prominent adult character in the show.Well, by pure coincidence - Lincolnposting came back the exact same day I posted this. Just swap out some names for Nick characters and bam, mostly applicable.
Also, do you guys legitimately think Rocksteady is this obscure bit player? Even before NASB discourse force-fed me every bit of TMNT trivia you could imagine through cultural osmosis, I knew Bebop and Rocksteady not only as core TMNT imagery, but outright core 1980s cartoon imagery. That's a weird thing, a lot of platfighter fans really don't know anything about the 80s... Duck Hunt is a meme pick, Beetlejuice and Gizmo are more obscure than Samurai Jack... insane.
Also gonna repost this graphic I made a while back and have used a few times - keep in mind these are characters literally created by Ludosity, they'd know everything about every character. NASB being the way it is shouldn't be a surprise if you know Ludo, NASB not being MORE of the way it is would be the surprise
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You have no idea how often I've read the take verbatim that Hugh is a "Reddit meme pick," as if he's not actually a character in a TV show. I swear some people's exposure to Nickelodeon is ONLY through social media.The discourse around Hugh definitely gave me this vibe of “only the main character matters” because if you got all your information about Hugh from those discussions you’d assume he’s a one-off bit character and not one of the main characters with several spotlight episodes and the most prominent adult character in the show.
Also funny meme dads.Nigel Thornberry Hugh Neutron
Getting downplayed to an extreme extent by people who probably never even watched the original shows.
I'm ridiculousYou’re literally there to see Steven Universe fight Jason Vorhees. To say otherwise is ridiculous.
Reminds me of a post from the profile posts a while back - "Meme Fighting Game fans mad at at the addition of Skibidi Toilet - the only justification they can come up with is because he's a "meme pick""You have no idea how often I've read the take verbatim that Hugh is a "Reddit meme pick," as if he's not actually a character in a TV show. I swear some people's exposure to Nickelodeon is ONLY through social media.
You’re kinda contradicting yourself here. You don’t care about the characters but you think people are being unreasonable about what characters they consider to be important or not?I'm ridiculous
Reminds me of a post from the profile posts a while back - "Meme Fighting Game fans mad at at the addition of Skibidi Toilet - the only justification they can come up with is because he's a "meme pick""
Read the post edit I did while you were typing that, I go a bit in depth on my true opinions on CAFYou’re kinda contradicting yourself here. You don’t care about the characters but you think people are being unreasonable about what characters they consider to be important or not?
Which is it? Do the characters matter or not?
I love Hugh Neutron, he's one of the best characters on the damn show! Unlike a lot of these people, I grew up with the show, I saw every episode, and I adore the characters. But I wanted to see him ALONGSIDE Jimmy, not INSTEAD of him. There's also the fact that his content in NASB1 really only reps himself, not Jimmy Neutron as a whole, so even if one argues "he's good enough" it still represents the show poorly. And remember, his inclusion was fueled by prerelease meme culture, regardless of his significance on the actual show. All characters matter, but mains really should not be snubbed either. Like I said, I get (even if I don't agree with) the frustration that there big Smash 3rd party DLC franchises will only ever get their main character repped, but these are first party Nick franchises that absolutely WILL get more reps.The discourse around Hugh definitely gave me this vibe of “only the main character matters” because if you got all your information about Hugh from those discussions you’d assume he’s a one-off bit character and not one of the main characters with several spotlight episodes and the most prominent adult character in the show.
I will openly admit I definitely was way more annoyed about Hugh than I should have been, but I do think what Drifloon said earlier has merit: I wanted Jimmy first. After that, any secondary character would've been fine as the second rep; I didn't what him instead of Jimmy and giving one of their DLC choices to a meme pick after people had already written off the game only served to legitimize people's thoughts that the game wasn't worth playing. I agree that picks like Gertie and Hugh are absolutely needed and welcome but there are some facts I think you gotta have first and, like Jimmy, one of those is all four TMNT.Characters are the most important thing in a crossover. You’re literally there to see Steven Universe fight Jason Vorhees. To say otherwise is ridiculous. By nature of being a crossover, the characters are what matters. They didn’t come up with a moveset and decide to slap Squidward onto it. They took the character of Squidward and built a moveset around him. If characters were only functions, Squidward would be doing things he’d never do, and no one would be happy with that because it isn’t true to the character.
But there is absolutely a stigma of “if I don’t care about this character then they don’t deserve to be here” that makes most potential rosters sound very basic and cookie cutter. You NEED wacky picks like Gertie and Hugh to keep things interesting. That unpredictability is part of the fun. If it were only main characters and nothing else, there’d be no surprises and no unorthodox movesets we’d have never gotten otherwise.
But the wacky picks need to be put in ALONGSIDE the obvious main stuff, not at the expense of them. There's a reason Smash gets away with so much nonsense. They didn't add Jigglypuff over Pikachu, they didn't add Piranha Plant over Peach or Bowser. And even in cases, prioritizing the side over a lead can still work if they're prominent enough and aren't too often (Min Min over Spring Man, Pythra over Rex, etc)Characters are the most important thing in a crossover. You’re literally there to see Steven Universe fight Jason Vorhees. To say otherwise is ridiculous. By nature of being a crossover, the characters are what matters. They didn’t come up with a moveset and decide to slap Squidward onto it. They took the character of Squidward and built a moveset around him. If characters were only functions, Squidward would be doing things he’d never do, and no one would be happy with that because it isn’t true to the character.
But there is absolutely a stigma of “if I don’t care about this character then they don’t deserve to be here” that makes most potential rosters sound very basic and cookie cutter. You NEED wacky picks like Gertie and Hugh to keep things interesting. That unpredictability is part of the fun. If it were only main characters and nothing else, there’d be no surprises and no unorthodox movesets we’d have never gotten otherwise.
Corrected it for you.characters don't truly matter to me in the grand scheme of things
Same goes for Lucy over Lincoln rather than alongside him like in NASB1.But the wacky picks need to be put in ALONGSIDE the obvious main stuff, not at the expense of them. There's a reason Smash gets away with so much nonsense. They didn't add Jigglypuff over Pikachu, they didn't add Piranha Plant over Peach or Bowser. And even in cases, prioritizing the side over a lead can still work if they're prominent enough and aren't too often (Min Min over Spring Man, Pythra over Rex, etc)
Helga over Arnold was perfectly fine for many. Having Rocksteady over the other Turtles and Shredder himself or Hugh over Jimmy Neutron goes too far into being different for the sake of being different.
It even applies to the person who gave us "characters are just functions". MvCI still has Nathan Spencer, one of Combofiend's favorite MvC3 characters, rather than having someone else be the "stretchy arm" function like Nero or Dhalsim or, licensing issues aside, Mr. Fantastic.If there's a character that plays exactly like Albert Wesker, looks similar to Wesker, but doesn't have his voice or characterization, then Wesker fans won't be happy. It's that simple, and this universally applies to every pre-established character
Uhh, you know that was kinda already implied, right? Just by the nature of being... you know, basically any statement related to video games in a non-moral context.Corrected it for you.
Except it wasn't implied. You said "characters don't matter in the grand scheme of things." Grand scheme implies you are referring to a large collective, not yourself.Uhh, you know that was kinda already implied, right? Just by the nature of being... you know, basically any statement related to video games in a non-moral context.
I have no active stake in if NASB, or even the mainstream platfighter genre, lives or dies - I'd prefer it if they lived, but I'm not interested in what I consider greater good sacrifices either. "Oh, I'm not gonna play this because there's only half the Ninja Turtles" I'm not a stockholder, why should I care? I recieve nothing from the game selling or even being recieved well, especially as someone who considers a 30 character roster acceptable if not too big as is. There'll always be platform fighters, big names or small names; there'll always be someone out there who wants to play any given game; and both the NASB games we have will always be there. If I want more NASB, I can just... play more NASB.
Which, if they really didn't, you yourself wouldn't care as much as you do about who gets into Smash and who people want for both it and NASB.characters don't matter in the grand scheme of things.
Didn't Wario just explain that his opinions are literally more nuanced than the "characters are just functions" line? What even are you getting at here?Which, if they really didn't, you yourself wouldn't care as much as you do about who gets into Smash and who people want for both it and NASB.
If you care about any quality that has nothing to do with gameplay, you've lost your "characters are just functions" privileges. Because it's in the name-characters are JUST functions. If they are, then it doesn't matter that Smash is acknowledging people other than you exist with its character choices.
Then why even say things that suggest otherwise?Didn't Wario just explain that his opinions are literally more nuanced than the "characters are just functions" line?