The Gauntlet? 4v4, Smash Bros. meets Team Deathmatch

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/20...ntlet_aims_to_transform_the_competitive_scene

Thoughts? My first thought was this could be like smash bros meets halo, then my second thought was SWEET!

Edit: I feel the need to clarify my opening post a little bit as my original words were typed rather hastily. Basically this is saying make 4v4 battles a 5 minute time match. At first the mere mention of a time match struck fear into my heart, but then I realized that with this format we have essentially the Team Deathmatch mode from first person shooters - whichever team gets the most "kills" wins. And if I'm not mistaken, that's the format that most FPSes use for eSports. I definitely wouldn't recommend this as a replacement for classic competitive Smash as the article seems to suggest, but it might have its place alongside doubles.

I'd really look forward to seeing the possibilities for different strategies and how this could shake things up. Do you guys want to test this out and see what you think? I thought I'd post an initial rule list and stage list.

5 Minute Time Limit
Team Attack ON
Items OFF
In the event of a tie, both teams choose one member to play a one-stock tiebreaker match on Omega Boxing Ring (any omega works but this is my favorite for eSports stuff )

Starter Stages
Big Battlefield
Hyrule Castle 64
Pyrosphere

Counterpicks
Windy Hill Zone
Super Mario Maker

 

[cpm]

I thought this was great.

 

[Clock Tower Prison]

It could be stupid but then it could be amazing. A lot of the stages even though they are available for 8 person smash would still be small enough to make it look chaotic. I think Hyrule and Palutena would be the only two stages unless everyone could agree on a custom stage that could be downloaded to each available console. Something that would be easy to create and yet provide enough layers where there could be a 1v1 in each section of the stage. I would not mind this as a side event but the way they speak it seems like they think this is where we should be to get on the level of LOL. As a lot of others have expressed even with pro players this could still turn out to be an uncoordinated mess and if you turn team attack off to resemble a MOBA it would be a spam fest.

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

Yeah I wasn't particularly swayed by the "level of league of legends" propaganda but it still seems like a neat idea. I worked out a preliminary stage list. These stages seem to work out well as big enough to give everyone some space but not too insanely big.

Starter
Big Battlefield
Windy Hill Zone
Pyrosphere

Counterpicks
Hyrule Temple
Gaur Plain

???
Great Cave Offensive (because of the danger zones; I still think Palutena's temple is a bit much)
Super Mario Maker
Hyrule Castle 64

 

[the_muffin]

Interesting. I feel like I would need to see a full explanation of the rules though before I pass preliminary judgement (and then actually watch the tournament they plan to host to pass full judgement.) We know the basic structure is going to be Double Elimination, best 2 out of 3 for bracket, best 3 out of 5 for finals, and 5 minute timed matches. That all sounds good in theory, but there are 3 variables that I didn't see mentioned that could seriously make or break this thing. Team attack, items, and custom moves. Customs could be either or, I don't think they would have as big a swing in this format as they do in 1 on 1 or doubles. However, if team attack is on I could easily see this devolving into a huge spam fest, with items on it becomes a huge chaotic mess, and both it becomes a huge spammy chaotic mess (could you even imagine the a Mario, Samus, or Mewtwo getting a Smash Ball in that? If that happened that team would surely take the round no matter what, probably) And I'm not even going to bother trying to figure out what stages would be legal (mostly because I don't know which ones don't work in 8 player Smash...)

tl;dr, Neat. Lets see some rules and a successful tournament first.

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

Team attack on turns it into a spam fest? I thought it was the other way around.

Here's the way I see it:
Items off
Team Attack on
In the event of a tie, each team chooses one member to play a one-stock match on Boxing Ring omega

Not sure about customs; I enjoy them and like some of the stages I picked I feel like with the time format it's easier to get a little more varied; it may not be as crucial to completely know the match up considering all the insanity. But I also know a lot of people don't like customs

 

[Tizio Random]

Seems interesting. I think the_muffin got confused and intended with team attack off. With items off and team attack on I really dig the idea.
The only thing keeping me being 100% invested for this is that I think the majority of the stage are way too small for a real 4v4 metagame that isn't just a chaotic mess. Maybe some custom stages? Dunno.

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

Alas, custom stages don't work in 8 player smash. And you're right that a lot of stages get to be too chaotic, even ones that we were excited about not having hazards like Pokemon Stadium 2. That's why I went with the stages I went with a few posts earlier.

The starter stages are large enough to give people at least room to breathe; the counterpicks are basically small fps maps. Palutena's temple is still too big because it doesn't have the danger zones of the great cave offensive.

 

[NintendoKnight]

This has caught my interest. I've wanted 4v4 to be a competitive thing, but for whatever reason, it just didn't fit quite right. Due to the limited stock nature of typical Smash matches, it became a rather one-sided once one of the teams lost three players for a 4v1 situation and a chance to make things look super hopeless.

In a timed scenario, however... I see the potential. Because, then, no one is truly eliminated out of the match. They keep fighting until the match is over. Besides, being the first to be eliminated in 8-Player Smash can be annoying at times. Who knows? maybe the 8 Player Smash mode will actually benefit from a Time match as opposed to Stock.

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

I still need to get some peeps to do a live demo of this mode, but I'm with you NintendoKnight . And the article seemed to be suggesting that this would somehow replace the established norm, which I definitely don't agree with. I definitely see this getting no further than a side event, maybe similar in popularity to doubles, but never replacing singles.

I updated the original post with a revised stagelist (Temple and GCO as counterpicks might have been too big; don't want to encourage running away) and basic ruleset. Lemme know what y'all think