Old School or New School?

[SpeedyJ]

First of all, this isn't one of those lame threads which are like "NEW SCHOOL IS OBVIOUSLY BETTER BECAUSE THE GAME HAS ADVANCED MORE AND IS MORE TECHNICAL...ETC..."

I'm just asking for the opinions of my fellow Melee-ers on which generation they enjoy more. This is in terms of watching i.e. watching matches on youtube, style of commentary, and if you're lucky enough, playing. Like if you've been active during both generations did you enjoy playing back then more, or right now? And which pros do you guys like better? Ken, Isai, etc or Mango, Hungrybox, etc.

My answer. This is my opinion and my own personal preference so you'll have to accept that, just as I do yours.

Spoiler

I love Melee so I'd naturally enjoy both. But ultimately, I like old school Melee better.

Spoiler

No disrespect intended but I feel the community has deteriorated, just in terms of attitude towards the game. There isn't as much order and respect as there used to be. And back then, the community was more open and friendly. But this is from what I've seen, not experienced so I can be completely wrong.

I like watching the older stuff because I'm more familiar with the match-ups and there weren't so many Jigglypuff matches (most of the matches I watch are MLG). Even though it was a close tie since I love watching technical, flashy playstyles and the space animals.

Wife, M3D and JV3x3 are the best commentators too! I also like how in MLG games they get other star players like PC and KDJ to guest commentate.

I prefer the older pros - because I'm more familiar with them, even though I like Armada and stuff too.

Unfortunately though, I haven't experienced any of the old school because I'm young (16) and the Smash scene here is both tiny, and not in my area.

To make it clear, when I say "old school", I'm not referring to Melee's true competitive beginnings like 2003-4 (earlier chapters of Chillin's blog), I'm referring to 2005-7 when Melee was at the height of its MLG life.

So what do you guys think?

And for the record, there is absolutely no problem with saying both! ^_^

 

[ETWIST51294]

Old school, mainly because I watched them back in 05-06 (I'm 16 too, so I didn't know wtf was going on).

But New school cuz of all the advanced ****. Honestly, idk. Prolly OS cuz of Isai.

 

[Iron Dragon]

New because of where they have taken the game. What Mango did to the smash community is the most remarkable thing out there. PP has continued to push things in the same direction as Mango and Armada does too. To me old school was just that, learning certain concepts and things about the game. But to see new school to be taken where it is, to see Melee at it's VERY best, at the HIGHEST level possible. That's what I'm all about.

@ First post...not so many Jiggs matches? lol? There's one major tournament consistent winning Jigglypuff player. And even so he hasn't won something super major in awhile >.>

 

[Veetaak]

I thought Chillin said in his "History of Smash" that there was alot of trashtalk back in the day between crews and coasts.

 

[SpeedyJ]

New because of where they have taken the game. What Mango did to the smash community is the most remarkable thing out there. PP has continued to push things in the same direction as Mango and Armada does too. To me old school was just that, learning certain concepts and things about the game. But to see new school to be taken where it is, to see Melee at it's VERY best, at the HIGHEST level possible. That's what I'm all about.

@ First post...not so many Jiggs matches? lol? There's one major tournament consistent winning Jigglypuff player. And even so he hasn't won something super major in awhile >.>

I see what you mean and agree with you in that sense. Well from the old school games I watch, the most popular characters are Fox, Marth, Falco and Sheik and Captain Falcon.

I thought Chillin said in his "History of Smash" that there was alot of trashtalk back in the day between crews and coasts.

That's true too, but you'll always have that and it probably still exists now (I could be wrong) but the difference is, that kinda stuff sometimes makes it to commentary - I know its all in good natured fun but not my kinda thing.

 

[hectohertz]

wait so your too young to remember the old school but you liked it better?

 

[Dimitris]

Don't think the number of jigglypuff players has really increased either.

 

[MTKO]

I thought Chillin said in his "History of Smash" that there was alot of trashtalk back in the day between crews and coasts.

I think Smash was one of the last fighting games to see real rivalries and a strong connection to crews. I like learning about the history of certain games and how they've evolved and the one thing that seems to have ruined some of the old school outer aspects of fighting games is online play. Not to say that online play is bad though. It's great! (even though I don't play any of the new online games anymore due to a lack of new systems now).

 

[SpeedyJ]

wait so your too young to remember the old school but you liked it better?

By old school, I am referring to 05-07ish. The main MLG era. Note how I've used "EXPERIENCED" opposed to "REMEMBERED".

Don't think the number of jigglypuff players has really increased either.

But Jigglypuff wasn't as dominant back then. Like I never saw Jigglypuff at an MLG grand finals or TG6, etc.

 

[Wake]

New because that's the only scene I know. I've only been playing for a year... the new scene is awesome!

 

[SpeedyJ]

New because that's the only scene I know. I've only been playing for a year... the new scene is awesome!

Fair enough. And that's awesome! Glad you are having a blast.

 

[KishPrime]

The community had its share of immaturity back in the day, too. Because there wasn't as much history, there were about a million johns after every tournament trying to explain why so and so was actually better. There was a ton of trashtalk, but once people got to the venues it was all fun and games.

From 2003-2007, I think there were basically 5 Jigglypuffs that I can remember that ever made Top 5 at an MLG or major tournament in teams or singles: AOB, Zulu, KillaOR, King, and myself. And most of those were in teams. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone...but definitely not a popular character.

I can't really separate the two. When I watch modern matches, you can clearly see the technical difference at the tippy-top of each character's development and in top players, which is cool to see. However, it's still all the same game. When you look at the top players in the old days and watch them fight each other, it's still the same mindgames, the same control of their character, the same choking, and ultimately the same mentality as the modern players. They all still do awesome things, which largely revolve around execution in the heat of the moment and taking advantage of opportunities.

98% of the game is the same. There are some innovations in movement, and some combos have extended from 60% to 80%, etc., but this doesn't make as big of a difference as you'd think...basically only slight adjustments in character matchups.

That's my opinion.

 

[EPsilon933]

Old school Melee is legendary. I watched youtube videos of it for 2 years before going to my first tournament

 

[t3h Icy]

I'm loving the US vs the world right now. Armada, Kage, Amsah, Kirbykaze, etc.

 

[-ACE-]

Old School is legendary and irreplaceable, but I enjoy new school more, just because of all the innovation that has taken place in the past 6-7 years. Watching Hax, Armada, Mango, PP, etc. is just too good.

 

[Supreme Dirt]

New school for sure. I remember old school, I completely missed out on it because of my parents.

Now I'm trying to break into new school, despite such an immense skill gap between me and the top players. Also because of a general growing frustration with Brawl.

 

[Zodiac]

The new school is better, but not by an overwhelming amount, Im pretty convinced if old school pro's came back and learned the new meta game they would make a heavy name for themselves all over again.

 

[Twinkles]

Can I just say both? Lol.

I think I slightly prefer new. I mean, love the history of Melee and really respect old school because videos of Ken and Isai were really what brought me to Melee. Still, I'm closer to new, 'cause, well, that's when I got into Melee. Besides, I love the commentary of HMW and Phil. Certainly, they're not as professional as, say, Wife, but they do a good job of making me feel like I'm part of the experience- like I'm actually in the audience, watching Mango read Armada's roll into Rest (most hyped single attack EVER). Also, they're clear proof that the Melee metagame has evolved, and is still evolving.

But, gotta give props to old school. Isai is still too good

 

[Roneblaster]

More fun to watch new skiller because its more flashy and instantly entertaining. But i think theres a certain element that new school players havent developed, probably because it isnt as important in todays metagame. Basically an old school player without uber flashy tech skill is probably going to dominate a standard level new school player and even give top level new scho players good matches and even make some upset waves.

Run-on sentence much?

 

[hungrybox]

i apologize on my behalf

 

[Beat!]

^LOL

No love for eytch-bawx

 

[KishPrime]

I love watching hungrybox.

 

[SpeedyJ]

i apologize on my behalf

I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way. :'(

 

[Kanelol]

I like new school just because of how much broader the game is on an international level

Back in the MLG days, the only foreign player anyone had ever heard of was Bombsoldier

But sitting where you are right now I'm sure you can name at least 10 professional *** smashers that don't even speak English that well

 

[KishPrime]

Actually there were quite a number of foreign players that were well known before Bombsoldier. Tetsuya, anyone? The original combo video specialist? The main difference is that since there wasn't the history of interactions, that people weren't really sure how different regions compared in skill.