vonfinell
Smash Apprentice
I'm personally in favor of the 'tires don exits' standpoint, because the way I see it (and this is purely in my opinion, I tried bringing this up in another thread and I got flamed) is that your skill at the game is your skill with the character. The reason Sheik or Marth are considered 'top tier' is just because a lot of people are very good with them. If a pro came up who had trained really hard with Pichu, then suddenly he would start creeping up the list.
I'm not saying that everything is completely balanced, nor do I believe that Pichu is actually a character that could feasibly be used (my theory excludes certain clone characters) but I still think that Melee is one of the most balanced fighting games I've ever played, except perhaps a few of the later MK games (although I hear people have broken Deception).
Really, the existence of tiers is purely based on how you view skill. As I choose to look at it, your main character is your weapon, and your ability at the game is how well you can wield that weapon. Nunchaku are more difficult to master than Katanas, but does that make them a worse weapon? In the end the differences in amount of practice needed for each character is so small that in the end it doesn't really matter. Not all characters are balanced, and quite frankly I don't think it's possible to create a fighting game where characters are both diverse and balanced, but it's as close as we can hope. Let's just pray it becomes closer in Brawl.
That's just my opinion, please don't kill me.
As for the Rock Paper Scissors idea, I think that it could work if polished very carefully. However, this could lead to several problems, like all characters being clones of each other within their classes, or the fight being decided before it has even begun. I think that perhaps it would work a little better if you had individual moves be useful against different types of characters. For example, Samus' Charge Blast can throw a light character clean off the stage, but her Missiles are better for piercing through a heavy characters armor. It's a good idea on paper, but the little details would prove whether or not it works in practice.
I'm not saying that everything is completely balanced, nor do I believe that Pichu is actually a character that could feasibly be used (my theory excludes certain clone characters) but I still think that Melee is one of the most balanced fighting games I've ever played, except perhaps a few of the later MK games (although I hear people have broken Deception).
Really, the existence of tiers is purely based on how you view skill. As I choose to look at it, your main character is your weapon, and your ability at the game is how well you can wield that weapon. Nunchaku are more difficult to master than Katanas, but does that make them a worse weapon? In the end the differences in amount of practice needed for each character is so small that in the end it doesn't really matter. Not all characters are balanced, and quite frankly I don't think it's possible to create a fighting game where characters are both diverse and balanced, but it's as close as we can hope. Let's just pray it becomes closer in Brawl.
That's just my opinion, please don't kill me.
As for the Rock Paper Scissors idea, I think that it could work if polished very carefully. However, this could lead to several problems, like all characters being clones of each other within their classes, or the fight being decided before it has even begun. I think that perhaps it would work a little better if you had individual moves be useful against different types of characters. For example, Samus' Charge Blast can throw a light character clean off the stage, but her Missiles are better for piercing through a heavy characters armor. It's a good idea on paper, but the little details would prove whether or not it works in practice.
