Smash Bros for Wii U tournament popularity

[madBowers]

Do you think the new Smash Bros will get a better tournament following than Brawl did?

It is no secret that Melee is way more popular than Brawl. So when it comes to big tournaments Brawl really hasn't had the support like Melee has had. Do you guys think the new Smash Bros is doomed to fail in the tournament scene like Brawl? I know it is way too early to know for certain, but I just wanted to know what some you Smash Veterans thought about it. I feel like if this new game doesn't get enough tournament support then competitive smash may slowly fade into obscurity. After all, Melee and Project M can't live on forever.

 

[KaZe_DaRKWIND]

I think it'll be more than Brawl but less than Melee. A lot of people will not like it purely because it's not melee 2.0.

 

[NekuShikazu]

Just to tell ya, there are probably other threads discussing this. Also, Smash Bros has been known for being successful for every game in the series (and no, I'm not talking about speed).

 

[Raijinken]

It will be popular. The question is: for how long? My answer to that one is "Until something better comes along."

 

[Jellyfish4102]

It is no question that this game will greatly outpace Melee for its first few months. The question is whether or not it will still outpace Melee after the hype ends.

 

[Rich Homie Quan]

I think there's a newer generation of people who are just on the verge of going competitive who are gonna pick this game up. The release is gonna bring I a n influx of new players as well.

Yeah, I think it'll be strong at first. It's longevity is gonna be linked to its gameplay, however. That and however long Melee is gonna last. Mango says Melee has about five good years left and then the community will move on. This game might be what they move on to.

Or PM :/

 

[madBowers]

It is no question that this game will greatly outpace Melee for its first few months. The question is whether or not it will still outpace Melee after the hype ends.

I watched the E3 tournament they had and there were a lot of people into it. It was mostly due to the hype around it (Like you said) though. It looks like it is a little faster than Brawl was, which is a good sign, but I'm unsure how people will like the new ledge mechanics.

 

[Impmacaque]

I think it'll be more than Brawl but less than Melee. A lot of people will not like it purely because it's not melee 2.0.

I don't know how many times this has to be repeated:

Not even the most diehard Melee fans are asking for "Melee 2.0". What we want is a good competitive title with plenty of mechanical depth to explore and master. We don't care if the engine and system mechanics are completely different so long as the game has depth. The reason Melee is used as the standard of comparison is because, despite its many flaws, many Melee players feel like it was the entry in the series which had the most depth.

If SSB4 turns out to be mechanically shallow, the scene will probably be comparable to Brawl's (Big initial reception, dies off over time until a successor is released).

 

[Spirst]

That's tricky. The game itself seems to be more 'competitve' than Brawl ever was but yet I don't think as many people own a Wii U like the number of people who owned a Wii. That would be a fairly big factor in deciding the number of tournaments that occur. As more people buy Wii Us and get into Sm4sh, I can easily see it displacing Brawl. One complaint that I've seen was that Brawl was very boring to watch and get into since it promoted camping. With the new Sm4sh speeding up the physics, I imagine it'll gain a bigger following. Now, will it beat out Melee? Within the first few months, definitely. There will be tons of more people interested in playing a newly released Smash game as opposed to one that's been around for 13 years.

If Sm4sh is found to be fairly technical/deep as time goes on and no character is found to be MK 2.0 (the monotony killed it as well), then I imagine it'll last longer than Brawl did. Otherwise, Melee will gain more traction again.

 

[Renji64]

It all depends on the quality of the game melee is still around and kicking due to hardwork passion and just a great responsive fuild game. Alot of players in smash 4 will be most of the brawl scene and if people played brawl that long this game has a good lifespan ahead of it.

 

[BBG|Scott-Spain]

It all depends on the gameplay. If it's not even fun to watch, this game won't last long.

Personally, I think this game will HAVE to be patched or given DLC to last even as long as Brawl did.

 

[Conda]

I think it'll be bigger than we think.

 

[smashmachine]

Do you think the new Smash Bros will get a better tournament following than Brawl did?

It is no secret that Melee is way more popular than Brawl. So when it comes to big tournaments Brawl really hasn't had the support like Melee has had. Do you guys think the new Smash Bros is doomed to fail in the tournament scene like Brawl? I know it is way too early to know for certain, but I just wanted to know what some you Smash Veterans thought about it. I feel like if this new game doesn't get enough tournament support then competitive smash may slowly fade into obscurity. After all, Melee and Project M can't live on forever.

It will last longer than Brawl simply because the game pretty much has to be better.

 

[Scourge The Hedgehog]

Brawl wasn't a horrible game but there were definitely designs in the game that prevented it from lasting. Tripping was probably the most hated thing for me. Every time it happened to someone in tournament my friends and I would just yell out "Sakurai!!!!" Not to mention the amount of viable characters wasn't as great. Snake, MK, Marth, DDD, and ICs.

Why I think the game will be popular? The cast looks great and most of them look viable. We won't know till the game is released of course. It'll have to be engaging for viewers and the players. That is key. Melee is so fun to watch because of the various choices a player can make. This has to deal with the game's depth. I'm hoping that Smash 4 will provide us with a long lasting tournament scene.

Melee already brought in a bunch of new players but I can only imagine everyone wants to be the best player for the new game.

 

[Morbi]

Honestly, Smash for Wii U definitely seems as though it could outlive Brawl for a couple of reasons.

1. Balance patches. We do not run into stagnant meta-games where only a couple of characters are viable, we are probably not going to have a broken or dominant character years after release either. if it is consistently altered. This also helps retain interest in the game, it changes it just enough to encourage new players to join and veterans to continue.

2. The scene is explosive as of current. It is implied that Nintendo is going to support Smash 4's competitive scene to some extent and the Smash documentary has reinvigorated enthusiasm to Smash. There were also the two EVO appearances and with Nintendo sponsoring at EVO, I am sure that they will advocate for Smash 4 at EVO as well.

3. A lot of what made Brawl disturbing for competitive play has been removed, namely tripping. However, as a community, we have also learned that three stocks may have been a bit too much. There were some one-stock test tournaments awhile back, I am not sure what the yielded, but if the game is inherently slower, we could probably adjust that accordingly so that spectators are still interested in spectating. We are a great portion of the scene after all.

Honestly, I cannot think of anything else entirely relevant that pertains to competitive players exclusively.