During the demo days of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, there have been instances of low hitstun crippling the fundamental combat functions of the game. For example: Fox could be punished after hitting with U-tilt at low percents (same with Sonic's N-air and some other character's lighter attacks I'm sure), Corrin's Neutral-B didn't keep victims of the charge blast in place long enough for a charged bite to connect, Samus's jab could be interrupted with just about anything, Little Mac couldn't pull off a combo whatsoever, etc. Well, luckily, one of those specific problems has been addressed, so Corrin isn't so bad. Wait. Oh crap, that's still pretty bad.
So, it seems that some party in the development field has been playing hardball with this idea of low hitstun. I mean, we've seen the demos, we've seen the game leaks, we're going into 2 months of the official release of the game, and these problems still kinda exist. That begs the question: Why don't they just drop this low hitstun idea? Yes, one can ask, "But why don't they just solve those problems by changing the moves?", but another will ask, "Why can Inkling get easy offstage KO setups while Ganondorf can hardly get D-throw -> N-air?", "Why can Chrom combo F-air into oblivion when Marth can hardly combo F-air into anything?". The answer to those questions is: higher hitstun wouldn't matter to a lot of characters who have good combo game.
Seriously, upping the hitstun just a little bit could do a lot for lesser characters: Incineroar could have U-tilt -> U-air, N-air, or Up-B. Kirby could have Drag down F-air -> Jab, Tilts, or Grab. Samus could have a properly functioning jab. Sheik could have decent damage output. But what would be better than all of this? What would be better than any character having better combo game? Training mode would have a reliable and satisfying combo counter.
Now there's major update that has been announced, and it's coming soon. A version progression from 1.2.0 to 2.0.0 is a really big jump - which more than likely includes bug fixes and mechanical changes - so one can hope that an increase in hitstun is one of the provided alterations. But if it's not. . . why so much effort?
So, it seems that some party in the development field has been playing hardball with this idea of low hitstun. I mean, we've seen the demos, we've seen the game leaks, we're going into 2 months of the official release of the game, and these problems still kinda exist. That begs the question: Why don't they just drop this low hitstun idea? Yes, one can ask, "But why don't they just solve those problems by changing the moves?", but another will ask, "Why can Inkling get easy offstage KO setups while Ganondorf can hardly get D-throw -> N-air?", "Why can Chrom combo F-air into oblivion when Marth can hardly combo F-air into anything?". The answer to those questions is: higher hitstun wouldn't matter to a lot of characters who have good combo game.
Seriously, upping the hitstun just a little bit could do a lot for lesser characters: Incineroar could have U-tilt -> U-air, N-air, or Up-B. Kirby could have Drag down F-air -> Jab, Tilts, or Grab. Samus could have a properly functioning jab. Sheik could have decent damage output. But what would be better than all of this? What would be better than any character having better combo game? Training mode would have a reliable and satisfying combo counter.
Now there's major update that has been announced, and it's coming soon. A version progression from 1.2.0 to 2.0.0 is a really big jump - which more than likely includes bug fixes and mechanical changes - so one can hope that an increase in hitstun is one of the provided alterations. But if it's not. . . why so much effort?