tl;dr: There wouldn't be this many characters if some were meant to be bad, and we have proof that even game mechanics are subject to change with balance patches. Adapt and play the Smash game, adapt and play the Waiting game, or adapt and play a Different game.
I like this post...a lot.
As someone just jumping into competitive with Smash 4, and having watched the final's match of EVO 2014, maybe I'm ignorant, but to me when I watched that match, it just looked like Jigglypuff was bouncing at the edge of the stage waiting for Fox to mess up...What else do I do when I play Jigglypuff? (Not a pro Jigglypuff player, but just throwing out my two cents.)
Point being, when I've faced people who're on my level that are playing Link/someone else who has a campy play style, I usually feel like it's because of my lack of skill that I can't get to them.
I'd say give Smash 4 room to breath. see what the community thinks after EVO or Apex or something like that.
Edit: I don't know much about Smash competitive, and I know that the Jigglypuff comparison is a major generalization, so I acknowledge if I'm wrong about some things.
Scenarios like that can, will, and really,
should arise as a result of some matchups. I saw someone earlier saying that people learning to beat out Diddy's sideB is a sign that the game is tending towards camping. I must point out that if his sideB is meant to be unpunishable, then it, like the infamous Bouncing Fish of 1.03, is far too rewarding for virtually no risk. That sort of design may be "fun" to some players, but it is literally only fun for the player using that character, and shows a poor sense of balance. That sort of "fun" is what gave us a very narrow list of "viable" characters in past games.
I understand that it takes years, if not longer, to make a perfectly balanced game (the only game I'm familiar with that gets labeled thus frequently is Starcraft Brood War, and that took years to "perfect"), and that some characters/playstyles will be in or out of style based on what's dominant at the time. A lot of copycatting goes on in higher level play due to the perception that there is a "best" character and "best" strategy. And that's certainly true, and it does frequently, especially with that sort of copycatting, take a
very long time for new metas to develop. That's one of the things that makes me so excited for balance patches. Characters have already, and will likely continue to change from a balance standpoint. To boot, Sakurai/Nandai has shown that they are NOT afraid to alter game mechanics (Vectoring/DI from 1.03 to 1.04) if it will make for a better experience.
That's what I, personally, believe they're going for, and will hopefully achieve. The best experience, Smash as it was meant to be played. Don't get me wrong, I love every single Smash game, including Melee and Brawl, no matter how much I may bash one or the other for things done "wrong". But one thing that a mod recently mentioned was that "Ganondorf was picked to have a bad grab for a reason." That is a true statement. But what is
not a correct extrapolation is that Ganondorf, or any other character, is deliberately designed to be bad. No matter your playtesters or Nandai's ability to balance games, nothing is right off the bat, and it is
literally impossible for the designer to foresee every possible gameplay trend and balance accordingly on the first shot.
Balance is an iterative process, and one that we're finally able to experience in an official Smash title, not just through mods. If, to reuse examples, Ganondorf just cannot hold weight in the game, he can, and
should be changed. If his grab needs range or throw power or SOMETHING, he can and
should be given that. If Monkey Leap is intended to be versatile as an attack or grab, then it
shouldn't be safe. If it's considered
too safe, that can be adjusted (see patch 1.04 for numerous cases of endlag changing).
If Sakurai and Nandai are after a defensive game, well, again, there are past games that players are welcome to continue playing. If they're after an aggressive game, there are
other ways to make it aggressive aside from copying and pasting glorified physics glitches from past games. Shieldstun. Endlag. Hitlag. If mobility is too weak an option, they'll fix that. If rolling is too strong (entertaining, isn't it, how a mobility option will be bashed for being OP in the same breath that condemns the game for not having mobility options?), they'll nerf it. If it's too weak, they'll buff it.
I, at least, have faith that they'll balance this game for a while, tweak things here and there, and we'll end up with the perfect generalized Smash Bros game. You can please some people all of the time, and all people some of the time, but you can't please all people all of the time, and for that, other games exist.
