See, this is exactly why I put "Smash 5" on Chaotic Evil.
OK so I'm actually going to break this down because it is a legitimate pet peeve of mine.
Calling both Smash 3DS and Smash Wii U "Smash 4" is actively confusing and misleading for multiple reasons.
It objectively doesn't "make sense".
Sakurai himself considers them the "4th and 5th" entries in the series respectively. If people call Smash Switch "Smash 5" on the basis that it's the "fifth entry", they're just objectively wrong.
http://sourcegaming.info/2016/12/06/limit/
Sakurai: "Smash is huge. Even for a Nintendo title, its size is overwhelming. These are the 4th and 5th entries* in the series, and it’s certain they’ll do well on the market, so it’s likely that fans just assume there will be another one. However, it’s a miracle that we can even make this happen."
The commonly touted "Smash Four 3DS/Smash Four Wii U" pun was not intentional and was just a made up fan thing. The pun doesn't even exist in the Japanese title. The games were called "for 3DS/for Wii U" quite simply to avoid confusion because the two games are for two different systems. If they called Smash Wii U "Super Smash Bros. Electric" and Smash 3DS "Super Smash Bros. Fire" or something like that, it would likely cause confusion for parents. A parent could have a kid who thinks the word "Electric" sounds cooler for example, so they ask for that game on their Christmas list. The parent buys that game, only to discover that it's a Wii U game and their kid only has a 3DS. If calling both version of the game Smash 4 "made sense", then Sakurai would have made the official title of the games "Super Smash Bros. 4" or some other common subtitle, and would have developed the games with much more similarities than what they actually have.
That leads into my next point that they are two PHYSICALLY different games, and have different content and selling points. They are sold in different physical forms (modified Blu-Ray disc format VS 3DS cartridge), have different titles, and DLC for both games is sold separately (you can buy them in packs that contain the appropriate DLC for both games, but that's just a convenience option. You're still paying extra).
They have mostly different stages unique to both games, and have different modes (and even modes that share a name play out very differently, like Classic Mode). For those reasons, the two games don't provide the same experience. For a point of comparison, look no further than PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale. It was released on both PS3 and PS Vita under the exact same title. And everything aside from the graphics is the same between both versions of the game. Same modes, same stages, same unlockables, same PSN trophies, etc. Your save data is 100% cross-compatible. You pay one flat price for the game's DLC, and you get it for both versions automatically. Even more so - buying one version of the game, even physically, got you a download code for the other version of the game at no extra cost. They are the same game for two different systems. Smash 3DS/Wii U were not developed nor marketed to convey such an intention. They are two products with their own unique features, the existence of one merely aids in the promotion of the other. The only things they share in common are base game mechanics, the character roster, amiibo functionality, and character custom data is transferable between both versions. Also the Wii U game can use a linked 3DS game (or the Smash Controller app) in order to control a player in the Wii U game, but the reverse is NOT true.
The two games have different control schemes too, and not only that, Smash 3DS tournaments, while not as common as Smash Wii U tournaments, still exist. The two games have different competitive rulesets based on the stage lists, and have different top players. Someone like ZeRo isn't necessarily as good at Smash 3DS as he is in Smash Wii U due to the controller disparity. Saying ZeRo is the top "Smash 4" player is non-sensical because he doesn't even play "Smash 4" - that would be Smash 3DS. He was one of the top Wii U players, specifically, and was where he built up a reputation. He only briefly played the 3DS game in the wait for the Wii U game.
If being frustrated with misinformation is equivalent to "Chaotic Evil", then bite me.
