A little bird tipped me off to this thread...
I am okay with pointing out flaws and criticizing people, but remember this, Masahiro Sakurai did not make this game alone. Sora Ltd., Bandai Namco, and Nintendo were all involved. When people blame Sakurai, Hideaki Itsuno, Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, or people like Barrack Obama, François Holland, or Shinzo Abe, they're blaming the wrong person; they are not blaming the people around them, the groups supporting them. The people who did not do a thing are to blame as well because they did not protest. You should not blame the failure of the United States, France, and Japan on Obama, Holland, or Abe. No, it is the fault of the United States, France, and Japan themselves. Likewise, it is not the fault of just Sakurai; it is the fault of Sora Ltd., Bandai Namco, and Nintendo. The people who are blaming Konami for soured relationships with Kojima? That's a correct blame and one that has proof through immature removal of Kojima and Kojima Productions's name on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. He is an eccentric man who was influenced by and loved films, so what's so big of a deal with him having "A Hideo Kojima game"? It's the same if Christopher Nolan puts "A Christopher Nolan film". It's just the director or creator adding his name to it alongside his team in the credits, both opening and closing.
The title is immature and ill-directed. Something like "Flaws of Samus That Need to be Addressed" would have been appropriate. Flaws that everyone knows and I'm damn sure Sora, Namco, and Nintendo know with repeated outcries from Samus players. Maybe they're flaws they do not know how to fix. Or perhaps they choose not to fix them. Why? Because Smash Bros. is a party fighting game, a genre that is both unique and killing it. Games inherently are supposed to be fun, they're supposed to be entertainment, and games with multiplayer will end up competitive even if luck is involved. People get mad over Mario Party and Dokapon Kingdom where RNG reigns over you and they still compete in those games even against CPUs who read your every move. So what?
So what is that choosing to only focus on party killed Brawl as the fighting part was not addressed enough when stupid RNG tripping existed, oversights like Wolf's 60 frame meteor cancel window, and Sakurai-only balancing lead to characters like Meta Knight, Ganondorf, Ice Climbers, Falco, and Triple D to exist. Melee? Killed by poor game design that left about 5 characters are strictly better than the rest where characters like Dr. Mario who was supposed to be a stronger, slower Mario end up with faster air speed and whose physics allowed him to compete with the Star Fox duo better than Mario or a character like Zelda who was dependent on 3 moves: Down Smash, Fair, and Bair along with air dodge which she still does today except recent patches have made her "function" better. Oh, and Peach's Down Smash was allowed to exist. 64 was probably the best of both worlds, but then again, you only had to deal with 12 characters, so not a lot of balancing needed to be done. Smash 4 while balanced pretty well has many under-performing characters not to mention that the 3 studios don't really know where to go between party or fighting.
Here's the thing, fighting games are difficult. Games are difficult, but they don't have to be for a regular playthrough. Demon's Souls is not difficult and neither is Castlevania. What's difficult is that for higher levels of play like speedrunning or challenge runs e.g. no death runs. Being patient and trying over and over again during a regular playthrough will get you through those games and whether or not you enjoy it is up to you. Fighting games don't have that. Even at a basic level, you have to know how the game works to play decently without button-mashing. Smash Bros. and the upcoming Rising Thunder averts this where there aren't a lot of complex inputs. It's just attacks, tilts, crouch and standing hits, aerials, and specials. None of the quarter-circle inputs which arguably isn't difficult, but in the heat of battle and for newcomers, it's difficult for them. The main difference is that Rising Thunder is designed to be competitive and at the same time, friendly to newbies who can just play and have fun. Games like Mario, Sly Cooper, Halo, Fable, Mass Effect, and even Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, and Diablo aren't difficult. It's when you get deeper, especially with those last three, is when they are difficult and that's the beauty of it. A game so simple, but deep down, is very complex. Is Smash that? Arguably, all of them are, but to different degrees.
Let's imagine that Smash 4 was developed with competitive players in mind, but still played like it is today. Does that change anything for regular players? No, absolutely not. They don't care who is the best character in that game; all they care about is playing their favorite character, playing with friends and family, and having a good time. It's for the competitive players where deep combat exists and where all characters are viable so you can be the best Mewtwo or Lucina player without having to worry about things like Melee Fox or Brawl Zelda existing. UMvC3 allows you to play however you want, but you do need to learn some of it to be able to do something other than set combos. Can you play as Dante, Deadpool, and Nova? Sure, but at higher levels, there's this major gap where Vergil, Doctor Doom, and Morrigan are just that better like in Melee where Fox, Falco, and Marth were that just that better than the rest of the cast. In KoF XIII, all characters are viable and you do need to learn about the basics to play the game. Each character can be used, but yes, some characters excel at different positions since you play with a team of 3 characters. If I wanted, I could play a team of King, NESTS Kyo, and Claw Iori. Is that a good team? Hell if I know, but I can play any of the characters. I could play as Shen Woo, Elisabeth, K', or Mai Shiranui. Problem? I only have a Dualshock for the PS3, so "basic" inputs like quarter-circle is going to be annoying. On the PC, KoF might be easier to play, but there's that high execution floor. Now imagine Smash 4 like KoF XIII, but with a relatively low execution floor. All players can play, all players can choose to enter competitively, and all characters are viable. That's a game I wish Smash 4 to be.
Right now, the tone is angry, frustrated, and disappointed. I can understand that, but at the same time, I can't. I was never and still am not fully part of the competitive Smash scene and I played Smash purely for the fun of being able to play as characters like Luigi, Link, Snake, and Wolf. Still, can you feel the pain of having a character whose 1 notable flaw, his extreme amount of end lag for a projectile with set knockback, a thin hitbox, and does 3% that gets left alone, but characters like Fox, Greninja, and the Pits get their end lag (and startup for Greninja) reduced? Characters who already have good projectiles getting theirs buffed, while a major issue is left alone? That's 1 problem that could have been fixed and it's a kick in the face when more superficial - Fox and the Pits' - or minor issues are addressed - Greninja even with his old projectile found it to be very rewarding and useful to his game plan. There are other character with major problems slowly having theirs fixed, but when there's just 1 problem and it's not done since several patches, it's like how long do we have to wait? Or what if they don't even do anything about it? Falco can be as strong as he wants, but when you are forced to approach almost every character in the game because your projectile is that bad, he's still going to be one of the worst characters. It's a shame when structurally, Falco's probably one of the best-worst characters alongside Kirby and Dr. Mario.
What do we do to Samus? I don't know since I don't play her. The ability to "crawl" would be fantastic and her rolls for me should have been based on Prime's dashes which would essentially be like Little Mac's "rolls". Her Up Smash is not working when she's one of the tallest characters. As an anti-air? I could see great use out of it, but the question is how does she get in that position to use it when Utilt's safer since it hits above and in front of her. On Toon Link or Fox? Sure, why not, but Samus? Jab 1 worked in Melee, so why is it not working in Smash 4? It's practically the same except for being in a different game with a different engine. Sometimes that works, but other times, it won't.
You could give Samus Kyo's 75-Shiki Kai and it might work better for an Up Smash. At least it would cover below her. I'm surprised that no character has flying front kicks for a move... Front kicks themselves are rare in this game compared to roundhouses, side kicks, and even stuff like whip kicks and back kicks.
