Treesicle: Why Super Smash Bros Will Never Be A Major eSport

[L1GHT]

we need to put melee online. theyve already got gamecube to pc adaptors. im sure nintendo will get there head out of there but for once and just realize that smash is their only good game. they also need to mass market melee and support it with big prize pools and start mass reproduction of the game and console. thats the only way melee will be biggest esport ever made. its already the greatest...

 

[Takehiko]

But every game has it's quirks, Melee had wavedshing, L-cancelling etc. which got embedded into its meta. Brawl.... well let's not get into that. Sm4sh has customs and very different physics from Melee and (to a lesser extent) Brawl.

I understand that. But he's talking about it in a way that when you sit down, it's never going to be the same end goal. I'm sure the soccer played 50 years ago isn't the same one played now. Cause there's new players, new rules, new referees.

 

[NOKAUBURE]

I always read smashboards news and never comment, but I feel that this video tells the truth. I got all original smash bros games, from 64 to wiiU and they are my favourite games. Everytime I play them, I turn items off and final destination is my most picket stage. Plus when a friend plays with me, I always beat them.

But when I watch EVO tournaments and such, I find myself far away from those smash champions like mang0. They trained for years, non-stop, and every melee tournament you watch, one of those smash legends always wins. Sometimes you see new people like plup or amsa, but what about the rest of smashers?

Also, most people sticks with melee and nintendo sticks with the newer game. Honestly melee is funnier to watch, but like the video says, you need a game from 2001 (or so) and a controller (overpriced) to play and the game lacks online unless you play through dolphin.

Because of all of those reasons i will never enter in competitive scene, but atleast is funny to watch tournament matches or play sometimes for glory.

 

[CaliburChamp]

League of Legends is boring to watch compared to Smash Bros. I still can't believe how many mindless zombies watch it.

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

So do you think professional athletes shouldn't be paid then?

I think they should be paid. Much less than they already make mind you because it's ridiculous how much money goes to pro sports players when there are hard working people out there struggling to make ends meet on minimum wages.

I also think professional athletes should be paid based on the fact that they need to be in peak physical conditions which is NOT easy, practice constantly, and are constantly at risk of serious injury.. especially in hockey & football (american football)

And for the love of god please nobody bring up hand injuries, they don't compare to a torn ligaments or busted knee that can ruin a sports career forever.

Also, sports are more entertaining on a national level than video games are or ever will be. I love watching pro gamers but myself and others who enjoy the same spectator role are a minority compared to sports fans, hence why they make more money. More people watch, more ads, more tickets sold, etc.

I also think pro gamers should be paid. I think twitch is great for them to earn money, + sponsorships + tournament winnings... it's enough.

What I don't agree with is someone who makes 50-100k a year off a video game complaining that they deserve more money, they don't. They should be happy to earn anything from playing video games honnestly.

 

[Raize]

His arguments are not convincing at all. First of all, the stuff said about soccer being easy to access isn't true. For golf, only professionals need like 32 clubs, so for soccer, pros need a billion seats at the stadium and specially designed armor. As for the 14 year old lunchbox, you could just play Melee off a Wii and get Melee off eBay. It's worth it. For PM, it loads fine for me, and the SD card only costed about $5 for me.As for the changing part, the fact that Smash is changing is good. He was talking about how the professionals need to keep learning how to play new games. That's not true, because many professionals just stick to like one or two games they are good at. The 5 different versions of Smash just encourage more people to play Smash, since different versions satisfy different people's tastes. Although i do agree that Smashers should be paid more.

 

[Dylan_Tnga]

His arguments are not convincing at all. First of all, the stuff said about soccer being easy to access isn't true. For golf, only professionals need like 32 clubs, so for soccer, pros need a billion seats at the stadium and specially designed armor.

Armor? I think you only need cleats & shin guards to play soccer. And honnestly you're not risking your life if you play without them. I've played soccer in running shoes and no shin guards many times.

Soccer is probably the most accesible sport in the entire world, you can make a goal post out of anything... and then you just need a ball of some kind (I've played soccer with a tennis ball at school before lol)

Hell, in Brazil some poor people actually play soccer with rocks (ouch) but I guess their feet are tough!

I think the soccer vs golf analogy was pretty on point.. and let's face it most people who play golf are rich and can afford the over 9000 clubs required, where as spending $200+ on a melee setup is outside the budget of a lot of smashers. I personally had to pawn my setup a few years back and now can't afford a new one (Although I will probably buy a Wii and get 20xx soon)

Honnestly I'm super happy smash has come as far as it has even if won't become as big as DOTA or Starcraft or whatever... who cares! We used to have NO sponsorships or money of any kind and now people are finally showing more of an interest.

Smash was a huge success at EVO this year and I think it can only grow from here, especially if smash 4 continues to grow and develop along side of melee. And I still think it's greedy to expect to earn a high income living off playing video games but that's just me.

 

[Treehell]

i agree about the golf part

 

[HAMMER?]

What I don't agree with is someone who makes 50-100k a year off a video game complaining that they deserve more money, they don't. They should be happy to earn anything from playing video games honnestly.

Fair enough.

 

[OGTYX]

As long as there's internet and a computer in one's home, it's just a Google search away.

One Google search, and then the time to learn how to be able to install Homebrew, how hacking a Wii works, then getting the correct apps to be able to USB Load, formatting the Drive correctly, finding a way to get a working Melee ISO without potentially going to a questionable site, formatting that correctly, putting the files in the right place, searching how to fix the errors a lot of people inevitably run into because of missing a small step or having not the best guides, and then you have a that.
It's still not the most accessible process.
Doable, not saying it isn't, I mean if I can do it, anyone can, but it can be a bit time consuming and a bit frustrating.

 

[p0stscript]

In my opinion the only thing that is limiting smash from being a major esport is the fact that everyone has to be at the same venue... league, dota, and starcraft all have the luxury of being able to be played online. Smash really doesn't have that, and i know some people are gonna be like "WHAT ABOUT FOR GLORY???" well for glory honestly really sucks, its not competitive, theres no skill level match making which makes it impossible to get better. Your either playing someone way better than you (Which is pretty rare) or your playing some scrub that just picked up the game to play with friends and stumbled in to for glory with out knowing how to play the game in the first place. If we want this to get big Nintendo needs to help fix smash 4 match making, add list of legal stages, an ability to communicate with who your playing against in the main lobby, and a way to see the other players character before the match begins. Thats the only reason smash 4 isnt big(Melee people dont hate on sm4sh cause the sm4sh players will come for you). Melee is an even bigger problem. The game has the potential to be the most competitve game ever, but you have to be with the person your playing with, THERE IS NO EASY ACCESS ONLINE PLAY, Setting up Melee over pc is extremely differcult and confusing and when its all said and done you still need to get a controller adapter for your computer, AND YOU STILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH TONS OF LAG WHICH COMPRIMISES THE INTEGRITY OF THE GAME. WE NEED AN EASY ACCESS ONLINE MODE/GAME OR SMASH WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO TAKE ON BIG TITLES LIKE LEAGUE OR DOTA.

^^^^^ this right here

 

[p0stscript]

lol m2k

melee hell jokes don't work on smash boards bro

 

[Railz]

melee hell jokes don't work on smash boards bro

They work everywhere "bro"

 

[Treesicle]

Kevin from Treesicle here. Yep, I'm the guy who made the video in the article. Don't know if anybody's gonna read this since it's been a while since the last post, but just wanted to chime in.

Thanks a lot to SmashCapps for finding the video worthy enough for this article. I do appreciate it!

I wanted to make it clear that despite the title of the video, I had no intention to "hate" on smash or anything like that. The title is pretty in your face, yes, but the point of the video was to bring up things that I thought should be FIXED with smash. So that hopefully proactive changes could be made to INCREASE smash's chances to make it as a major eSport. That was the honest intention. I thought it came across but maybe not.

Anyway, I'm really glad that my video spurned some fruitful discussion that hopefully helps to mold smash in a positive way for the future. Or if not, at least the hate was lulz. Peace.