Ha. There's plenty of Pittsburgh talent. If we had some actual bi-weeklies or something, that would become more apparent. I believe that most of the good players are just playing the game with their friends, rather than wasting time on inane message boards like this. The concept of websites like smashboards is incredibly lame. Smash Bros, like any other multiplayer game, was alot more fun before a bunch of geeks decided to come together on the internet and nitpick every little detail about the game's mechanics.
I think alot of people forget that the whole concept behind Smash is to create the most fun and crazy fighting game experience imaginable with your favorite characters from Nintendo's various franchises. I sincerely doubt that very many people who main MK/Snake/DDD/etc actually like the character. They just want to win in the easiest way possible. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The best tournament by far I ever went to was Otronicon, because it was just a huge crowd of people of all ages and skill levels playing with a ridiculous rule set. Instead of babbling about lag frames and directional influence, everyone was talking about what games they like, and why they like their characters, etc. Nobody cared about how "pro" each player was. Instead, people picked their favorite personalities out of the crowd and cheered each other on. Everyone had fun. And despite what the tournament-strict players would have you believe, the genuinely good players managed to rise to the top and take the ranking spots despite the rule set, only the matches were much more interesting to watch.
Final Smash 08 was very disappointing to me. I played bad and lost, but that's not what ruined it. Losing in smash can be incredibly awesome. What killed it for me was that when I brought a friend who barely knew how to play, nobody would listen to my request to take it easy on him in friendlies. I was hoping to show him what a fun and social game Smash can be, and maybe get him to play the game a little more so that we'd have a bit more of a Smash scene in Pittsburgh, but instead, we left early in frustration. If my friend wasn't having fun, how could I? The result is that there is one less entrant in this tournament.
I want to make SCS a better experience for myself, and for others. I want to find some people who play this game to have fun, and who aren't obsessed with winning at all costs. They're out there in Pittsburgh somewhere, and I guarantee that they are some of our best.
Who agrees?