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The Future of Smash 4?

WaddleMatt

Smash Lord
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May 7, 2018
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Honestly it will probably die on Wii U but I imagine the 3DS version living longer potentially.
 

DYED

Smash Apprentice
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178
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I mean, I guess like every other official Smash game.
Most people with move on and abandon it, but there'll always be that little niche of the community that will still play it religiously, and make mods for it.

Even Brawl still has its own little community.
 

Reila

the true enemy of humanity is anime
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Online will die sooner rather than later on both versions, but people will probably still play the Wii U version in local communities. If the Switch wasn't a handheld, I would say the 3DS version would live longer in Japan, but that is not the case.
 

KiyoXDragon

Smash Apprentice
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I think people will just prefer to play the new game, it will have more characters and better new features.
 

DjinnandTonic

Smash Journeyman
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Considering how Smash Ultimate looks like an attempt to finally kill Melee (it won't, but I appreciate the effort), I suspect Smash4 will also end up a casualty. Not necessarily a bad thing. If people don't play the new games as they come out, then uh... they will likely stop making new games and that's the darkest timeline.
 

Reila

the true enemy of humanity is anime
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Considering how Smash Ultimate looks like an attempt to finally kill Melee (it won't, but I appreciate the effort), I suspect Smash4 will also end up a casualty. Not necessarily a bad thing. If people don't play the new games as they come out, then uh... they will likely stop making new games and that's the darkest timeline.
I seriously doubt they are designing a game to kill one of their old games.
 

CrownAxe

Smash Cadet
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
34
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San Diego
I seriously doubt they are designing a game to kill one of their old games.
Why not? It's not like Nintendo financially benefits from the Melee scene as is

If they can get the Melee scene to actually go in on Smash 5 that would be a huge boon to for the game, both for building a scene and getting more sales in the long run
 

Sayabi

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jun 19, 2018
Messages
18
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Why not? It's not like Nintendo financially benefits from the Melee scene as is
Benefits don't come only from sales. The fact that people are staying on Melee divides the Smash Bros. community, so if their goal is to make everyone agree on a game, Ultimate becomes bigger, and the bigger the better. Not only in terms of game sales, but also a bigger community attracts more people, more viewership, more exposure, and more sponsors. Given how Nintendo seems interested in supporting the Smash Bros. esports scene, it is in their best interest to keep a maximum of good players and fans in one place rather than dividing the community.

TL;DR: Players who watch a Smash game maybe won't watch other ones, so dividing the community reduces viewership and sponsorship opportunities, so it's in their best interest to regroup a maximum of players in Ultimate.

I'm not saying Ult is designed specifically to kill Melee, but I wouldn't be surprised if they'd be trying actively to bring Melee players to Ult.
 

mendaix

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 7, 2018
Messages
1
I guess Melee and Ultimate will be the most played Smash games in the coming years easily BUT I can see Smash 4 3DS doing as well and maybe a lot better than Brawl once Ultimate releases,
Smash 4 Wii U and Smash 64 will have a smaller user base than the four others, that's a given.
 

Jamison

Banned via Warnings
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I think it's a little bit of a double-edged sword for fans of sm4sh. The more Ultimate gets right the less sm4sh will have to offer. Sm4sh will likely die just bc Ultimate is newer and the two share so many similarities in gameplay mechanics. Then you add in how many stages are returning and the only character I feel we are genuinely losing is solo charizard (I do think P. Trainer will be a better character than Charizard and charizard mains can still play him 90% of the match anyways). There's of course the issue of the Wii U not selling well and the Switch doing much better. Ultimate could have a massive player base over night that rivals anything we've seen from Melee or Sm4sh. I agree there will still be a nice group just like 64 and Brawl and PM all have. Not everyone with a Wii U is going to have the money to drop $300 for a Switch plus game plus controllers plus tax etc.

We all already kind of believe major tournaments and things like the 2GG saga will likely simply shift from sm4sh to sma5h. But even if most people prefer the differences Ultimate offers, the more differences it has from sm4sh will still keep sm4sh fans loyal. Sm4sh did add a lot of new characters and if those characters are nerfed or greatly changed in Ultimate it could keep people loyal to sm4sh. But in the end I think the important thing is even if sm4sh withers away smash in general still lives.
 

Frihetsanka

Smash Champion
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I don't think Smash Wii U has much of a future at all. Some things to keep in mind: Smash 64 is the first game in the series and very different from the other games, which gives it a niche. Melee is Melee. Brawl sold around 13 million copies and is played on the Wii, a popular console. Smash Wii U sold around 5 million copies and is played on the Wii U. From what we've seen, it's likely that Smash Ultimate will be more similar to Smash 4 than Smash 4 was to Brawl, which gives people less reason to play it. Also, keep in mind that Brawl had several characters that Smash Wii U didn't have (like Snake, Ice Climbers, and Wolf). The Switch has already sold better than the Wii U, too. Smash Wii U will have very little to offer Smash Ultimate players when it comes to content (maybe customs on-tournaments will have a niche, since it looks like Smash Ultimate won't have customs for non-Mii characters).

So, competitively, I think Smash Wii U will be even less popular than Brawl and Smash 64 some time after Smash Ultimate's release. I don't think I've seen a single people claim that they'll still play Smash Wii U competitively in 2019. Casually, I imagine quite a few people will still play Smash Wii U (and Smash 3DS, which has, as far as I know, pretty much died competitively).
 

Crystanium

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I think Sm4sh will decline, as is the case with most fighting games. Fighting games aren't like other games. When a new fighting game comes out, it seems to depend on how good the subsequent game is compared to its predecessor. It's not like picking up a game of Super Mario Bros. for the NES and speedrunning.
 

KanataLen

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jul 7, 2016
Messages
80
like most people have said at this point it will most likely die, especially because of its strong similarities to Sm4sh. It may still have it's followers, but like the fighting games go, if they are only iterations of each other, then it will always be the newest ones that will be moved on to
 

MarioManTAW

Smash Ace
Joined
Jun 10, 2016
Messages
843
I don't think Smash Wii U has much of a future at all. Some things to keep in mind: Smash 64 is the first game in the series and very different from the other games, which gives it a niche. Melee is Melee. Brawl sold around 13 million copies and is played on the Wii, a popular console. Smash Wii U sold around 5 million copies and is played on the Wii U. From what we've seen, it's likely that Smash Ultimate will be more similar to Smash 4 than Smash 4 was to Brawl, which gives people less reason to play it. Also, keep in mind that Brawl had several characters that Smash Wii U didn't have (like Snake, Ice Climbers, and Wolf). The Switch has already sold better than the Wii U, too. Smash Wii U will have very little to offer Smash Ultimate players when it comes to content (maybe customs on-tournaments will have a niche, since it looks like Smash Ultimate won't have customs for non-Mii characters).

So, competitively, I think Smash Wii U will be even less popular than Brawl and Smash 64 some time after Smash Ultimate's release. I don't think I've seen a single people claim that they'll still play Smash Wii U competitively in 2019. Casually, I imagine quite a few people will still play Smash Wii U (and Smash 3DS, which has, as far as I know, pretty much died competitively).
I highly doubt competitive Smash Wii U will be less popular than competitive Brawl. As of right now, practically the only events that have Brawl are those that are very Smash-centric and have all the games. I can't imagine Brawl getting any kind of a boost nor can I imagine Smash Wii U dropping below that threshold. Not to mention that Smash Wii U has been widely considered the better game on a number of factors.

Kind of surprised at how few people seem interested in playing Smash Wii U once Ultimate is released, but there's at least this:
 

petersh

Smash Rookie
Joined
May 31, 2018
Messages
2
I don't think the Smash 4 will die, at least in the near future. There are fewer people playing it, but I think still some, like me. When I play a game, I play until I play like a pro :)
 

smashingDoug

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Hope so I need to bring my 3ds to a tournament to show everyone you don’t need the c stick and tap jump can be used
 
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**Gilgamesh**

Smash Ace
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Messages
649
Smash 4 will die pretty quickly given that Smash Ultimate addresses nearly ALL the issues Smash 4 itself had such as
  1. Hazard Toggle
  2. Nearly every stage returning which coincides with point 1.
  3. Nerfing Defensive Options (Thank Goodness).
  4. Buffing everyone that isn't considered Top Tier
  5. Nerfing Bayonetta and Cloud
  6. Allowing more options in neutral thanks to dash-cancel
  7. Lowered Landing Lag across the cast
  8. Battlefield and Omega Versions now being completely identical
  9. Need I say more?
 
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Reila

the true enemy of humanity is anime
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Smash 4 will die pretty quickly given that Smash Ultimate addresses nearly ALL the issues Smash 4 itself had such as
  1. Hazard Toggle
  2. Nearly every stage returning which coincides with point 1.
  3. Nerfing Defensive Options (Thank Goodness).
  4. Buffing everyone that isn't considered Top Tier
  5. Nerfing Bayonetta and Cloud
  6. Allowing more options in neutral thanks to dash-cancel
  7. Lowered Landing Lag across the cast
  8. Battlefield and Omega Versions now being completely identical
  9. Need I say more?
Brawl didn't die after Smash 4, I don't see why Smash 4 will die after Ultimate.
 

Frihetsanka

Smash Champion
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Brawl didn't die after Smash 4, I don't see why Smash 4 will die after Ultimate.
Brawl sold nearly three times as much as Smash Wii U though, and the Switch has already sold better than the Wii U, so switching over to Ultimate should be easier than switching over to Smash Wii U. Smash Wii U might not 100% die but competitively it'll likely drop severely, perhaps even lower than Brawl. Many/most local scenes will likely move over to Ultimate.
 

PlasmWraith

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Jun 29, 2014
Messages
80
Brawl sold nearly three times as much as Smash Wii U though, and the Switch has already sold better than the Wii U, so switching over to Ultimate should be easier than switching over to Smash Wii U. Smash Wii U might not 100% die but competitively it'll likely drop severely, perhaps even lower than Brawl. Many/most local scenes will likely move over to Ultimate.
I agree with this, Smash Wii U's death will come faster than Brawl, and the reason is in the title, it's Super Smash Bros. for WII U. In fact, I'd argue the only reason Brawl hung on at all was because of the Wii U.
 

KuroganeHammer

It's ya boy
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Smash 4 is dead literally the minute Ultimate releases. There will be pretty much no reason to play it.
 

Nah

Smash Champion
Joined
May 31, 2015
Messages
2,162
It won't literally die in December 2018, but Smash 4 is pretty much in its last days. Unless Smash Ultimate somehow ends up defying expectations and is a screaming dumpster fire of a game, there is legit no reason to continue to have a competitive scene for Smash 4 in the face of Smash Ultimate. What does Smash 4 have over Smash Ultimate? Absolutely nothing, as far as we can tell. Even if it ends up being of about the same quality as Smash 4, it's still on a newer, more supported system at least.

Personally, I'm tired of Smash 4 and its issues, and I look forward to what potentially may be a better game in SmUsh.
 
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EMachine

Smash Rookie
Joined
Jul 13, 2018
Messages
2
I feel like people are just going to go over to Smash 5 because they are so similar and there is no major difference that would draw people to Smash 4. Also, people that never owned a Wii U will play Smash 5, building a larger player base and encouraging more people to move over.
 

Anubace

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It's gonna die without a doubt, sadly. Smash 5 will have a much larger player base with all the Switches being sold and every character from Sm4sh, Melee and Brawl are returning.

Then again, Brawl/PM/64 still have a small yet active community, and those are still played at tournaments. Sm4sh will hopefully live on for longer, but will be heavily shadowed in Smash Switch.
 
D

Deleted member

Guest
I don't think it will die right away. Especially not if they have Smash 4 along side Ultimate at venues, people will compete. Probably will still be around the popularity of 64 maybe.
 

Anubace

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I don't think it will die right away. Especially not if they have Smash 4 along side Ultimate at venues, people will compete. Probably will still be around the popularity of 64 maybe.
Okay yeah I make it sound like it'll die off immediately. The playerbase will definitely decrease slowly but surely. That's more of what I mean.
 
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