Once The Last Controller Has Broken, Does Our Community Die?

[L7Junkie]

Controllers are falling apart nowadays. To my knowledge, Nintendo's no longer making our beloved joysticks. You're lucky to find any online and/or in game shops, used or otherwise. Yes, I'm aware of importing. Let's be honest though, how many people are really gonna do that? And I hear the off-brand ones are HORRIBLE.

Me and my crew (The Hardcore Casuals, check us out!!) touched on this briefly while we were wrapping up our last Smash session and I thought it was kinda interesting. Granted, Melee's scene might not last long enough to see this day anyway. Assuming we continue to play this game for another ten glorious years, what happens to us once we stop playing the game, not because we chose to move on P:M or Smash Wii U or whatever, but because we literally can't?

EDIT: Apparently, Nintendo still sells them online, too. Cool. Still, though, lol.

 

[Lovage]

http://store.nintendo.com/webapp/wc...&categoryId=&ddkey=http:SetCurrencyPreference



ez

 

[L7Junkie]

Yeah. Was just editing my post while you commented, lol. But they just sell them and aren't making anymore, right?

P.S. H'OSH--, you're Lovage! lol.

 

[stelzig]

Yes, I'm aware of importing. Let's be honest though, how many people are really gonna do that?

You make it sound like it's harder to buy stuff from play-asia than it is to buy from that nintendo store... I'd say pretty much everyone would do that if they still wanted to play...

 

[danieljosebatista]

Eventually gamecubes and wiis will die too. And there won't be any working CRT tvs to play on. In the future, if we're still around (which I sincerely hope), the game will have to be played via computer (hopefully with fast enough internet to play online well) and using third party joystick controllers that function as well or better than the gamecube controllers. Lots of people have an issue with this controller idea, but they sell xbox style controllers for computer play already, and to be honest, those controllers are superior to the gc controller in many ways

 

[Fuss]

My NES still works.

 

[rawrimamonster]

All you gotta do is look at the smash 64 community, a lot of them have to resort to 3rd parties, joystick swaps or just sticking with worn out controllers you find in used game shops that cater to classics. The gamecube and its controllers will go the same way, I think I saw a clear green brand new in the box 64 controller going for $100.00+ on ebay once a couple years ago. Sad because the sticks on those wear out fast as hell. even gcn controllers dont seem the same quality to me as they used to.

I remember the first platinum controller I bought years ago when i first got a gamecube in 03-04 or so lasted me like 2-3 years of intense play. Now I wear em out in under a year of constant fox/falcon play. Course that goes along with increasing tech skill but thats the way the game goes.

 

[Excision]

I think once that last controller is gone, the majority of us will be gone as well.

My NES, SNES, and 64 still work without a hitch most of the time. From that perspective, the Gamecube still has a long life ahead of it. By the time all the controllers, all the discs, and all the consoles have been exhausted, the great majority of the smash community will have moved on to bigger, better things. Sure there will be some people who may want to play for nostalgia's sake, and they can resort to dolphin or other emulators. I think smashers grossly overestimate how long they would be willing to play this game; they'll probably sick and bored of it by the time there are no controllers left.

 

[danieljosebatista]

^No way man, consider that there are still Street Fighter 2 tournaments

 

[DerfMidWest]

I actually found a pretty decent 3rd party controller at a smahsfest I went to the other week.

it was just sitting around on the ground and I picked it up to put it on a table so it wouldn't get stepped on and then realized it was lighter than any GC controller I've ever held and that it didn't have the nintendo logo in the center (it was just blank). The font on the buttons was also different (they were a little bit harder than GC buttons also), but it looked just like a regular controller and it felt more comfortable than any other 3rd party I've seen. With a few adjustments it would have been great.

idk who made it though .-.

 

[Life]

Step 1: Get rich quick
Step 2: Buy a ton of Gamecube controllers
Step 3: ???
Step 4: PROFIT!

Although really, it's a matter of demand. If Smash's community grows big enough (yes, Brawl too, most of us use GC controllers) and enough demand for new GC controllers comes in... Economics solves almost anything, LOL.

I wonder if any future controller will ever prove superior for Smash, though. If someone does something brillant with Smash WiiU, and the controller turns out to be great for it, then...

 

[Banks]

If Wii U has a virtual console that includes gamecube games, maybe they'll release SSBM and make it so that it doesn't lag on hdtv's. Plus you can use that ridiculous controller.

 

[Jonas]

Emulator + decent PC controller/Xbox 360 controller (stop whining, it's possible to get used to it) and the Melee community will never die for technical reasons.

 

[Glöwworm]

Why not just hook up your Gamecube controller? lol. Actually, I see why you didn't mention it. Eh, I don't think Gamecube controllers go out that fast unless you're M2K who despises the smallest sign of wear.

 

[Kal]

We could also just play a D&D version of Melee with pencils and paper.

 

[DerfMidWest]

we could make controllers out of paper mache.

 

[Qzzy]

http://store.nintendo.com/webapp/wc...&categoryId=&ddkey=http:SetCurrencyPreference



ez

Omg, I can't believe I couldn't find that the first time I looked a year ago. I had to resort to play asia.

I suck.

 

[Pi]

i just ordered 5 from play-asia lol
they sent me a coupon for orders over 150 so i said okayyyy

selling them off to local smashers as need arive,s or keeping them myself
gotta stock up for the apocolypse

 

[Dimitris]

Emulation solves this, but the first thing to run out is the discs, is my guess. Discs are a pretty bad storage medium. From my perspective anyway, I work at a research library, and even the crappiest quality 100 year old newspaper does better than discs.

I got the impression that cartridges hold up better, anyone has an idea of cartridge life expectancy?

 

[N.A.G.A.C.E]

about discs. I know someone who hacked their wii at the beginning of the wii's life. and b/c of that he could not play GC games on his wii. He just burnt a melee disc and it works fine, so i dont think discs r that big of problem.

Also i think/hope that if melee comes out on the vc for the wiiu they will realse a controller for it and make it work on hdtvs. so if i am right melee can survive for a good while longer

 

[Dimitris]

Yeah you're right, I should have said emulation and burning new discs.

 

[Yung Mei]

Swap meets are a good place to look for controllers. I got 2 for $14, and tihey were practically brand new :V

 

[Glöwworm]

Emulation solves this, but the first thing to run out is the discs, is my guess. Discs are a pretty bad storage medium. From my perspective anyway, I work at a research library, and even the crappiest quality 100 year old newspaper does better than discs.

I got the impression that cartridges hold up better, anyone has an idea of cartridge life expectancy?

iirc, in order to have sava data, the cartridges come with a battery and these batteries usually die after a while. Also, one notable effect of using a burned copy of Melee on a Wii is that there is a longer loading time. But I don't it's that bad to stray away people from using this medium.

 

[DerfMidWest]

I think by the time we run out of discs and controllers and have to resort to emulation the community will be close to dead anyways. we certainly won't be getting many new players at that point since its not easily accessible to them.

 

[JOS.fm]

by the time the discs and controllers go, we'll probably have melee online. unless i just jinxed it.

 

[Kal]

Way to go, José.

 

[Dimitris]

iirc, in order to have sava data, the cartridges come with a battery and these batteries usually die after a while.

I've looked around and seems like you can fix that: http://www.jjgames.com/page/replace-snes-battery
Cartridges win.

 

[Glöwworm]

I've looked around and seems like you can fix that: http://www.jjgames.com/page/replace-snes-battery
Cartridges win.

Hehe, yeah. I know this is possible as I've done this on one of my N64 games but idk. It seems like a hassle whenever you have to replace the battery if it dies. Like, you lose your save data when it dies and you replace the battery and you have to beat the game again.

 

[DerfMidWest]

are the ever gonna make SSB64 for virtual console? I feel like they probably will at some point. And Melee will probably be VC someday.

the controls will probably suck though.

 

[Glöwworm]

SSB64 has been on the Wii's virtual console for quite a while now. It's okay since the Gamecube controller isn't quite the best controller out there for Smash 64 despite its way superior analog stick to that of the 64 analog stick. It also skips frames and that's not good