Alright, I’m gonna say my piece with the little battery I have left on my phone because there’s definity a rift amongst the people who play smash, even though it’s all the same franchise.
First though, for those of you who are reiterating “Sakurai said”, well, he has said a lot of things, many of them contradictory. I can recall posts he made saying villager couldn’t be a fighter, or that Brawl was his last smash game. And while the information is important, it is not set in stone, nor do I, or anyone else for that matter, can truly establish what he has said as fact from small excerpts from interviews he’s conducted. And honestly, it’s kind of irritating when you would site this information out of malice instead of trying to hear what others are saying. That’s weak, man. If you have your personal gripes with whatever game make them be know without attempting to hide behind the words of a man none of us know, or would have never known, if he didn’t make himself visible during Brawl’s development.
As someone who plays all the smash games, but personally loves Melee, I feel like the desire to obtain such a similarity to the game is because it is not only entertaining as a spectator sport, is because the game gives you options. When you are playing Melee, every input you make counts, and with inputs being 1 to 1, no buffer window (except for techs and DI), a refined physics engine, it makes the game feel very good to play, and players optly acknowledge that whether you make a technical error or secure a kill, that it was all on you. This in itself is satisfying, because you aren’t being defeated by an anomaly or systematic error. The mechanics allow for players to fully express themselves within whatever character they choose. You can clearly see if a Fox is either Armada’s or Leffen’s purely based on how they play.
When people say they want another Melee, it’s not just seeking a pure replica of the game; nah. What I believe is that people want what the game has always offered: accessibility, the ability to have control and fluidity with your character, a solid amount of hitstun to make strings and platform based follow ups viable, as well giving characters enough control over DI so that escape is possible, but knowledgeable players can still pursue and follow up (which in congruence creates the amazing combos we see today in Melee).
The problems that occurred with Smash 4 were that it achieved its competitive success by establishing limits on existing techniques, as well as having a neutral game that revolved around landing rogue hits that left an opponent vulnerable in an engine where it is easy to predict and react to.
If you get comboed in Melee, most people can acknowledge this as the comboer having the knowledge and dexterity to follow up, and the comboee being in the right percents, weight, incorrect DI, for a follow up to happen. In Smash 4, it can be something as simple as getting jabbed, and then losing neutral position. This is because it followed the trend that Brawl established, except you had great control over your DI, and the minimal hitstun meant you weren’t screwed over in neutral. Combine the engine with neutered DI and increase hitstun and you have a game that heavily favors a rogue hit momentum swing into trading the right option into a rage KO.
To clarify, if I get SHUFFL Nair comboed across FD in Melee by Fox into a kill, I knew I didn’t DI correctly, and my opponent acknowledged the percent I am at and was able to follow up accordingly while also reading my DI. If I get Nair to Up Smashed by Fox in Smash 4, there was a 1 in 4 chance that I couldn’t tech the follow up, so the game actually killed me (and people say wavedashing is a glitch...). If I get edge guarded and gimped in Melee, I probably didn’t recover right, missed a tech, or my opponents edge play was very strong and intricate, especially when if a player can instantly drop off the ledge, waveland, etc. if I get edge graded in Smash 4, I probably got ledge trumped and lost my invincibility frames, I only have 4 options to get up off of the ledge, and with the ledge timer, I can only get up after so many frames, allowing my opponent to shut down most of my options unless I wait, which then makes me lose my invincibility frames. On top of that, some characters are more susceptible to being punished by holding the ledge more than others because of the games design. really?
Now winding back to why SDI is so important, is because it allowed you to use your DI to position yourself with enough freedom to force your opponent to have to be on point to follow up instead of racking up percent in the same way every time. Lack of proper DI in Smash 4 is why down throw to up air is such s prominent combo, and why Bayonetta can just combo you skyward to ridiculous percents. It makes things predictable and sometimes stagnant.
And yet, I still love the game because it’s fun and it’s smash so I still play it. But please don’t be blind sighted by its flaws because they aren’t as visible as Melee’s ledge hogging or chain grabbing. Recovery latency, inaccurate hit boxes, phone-it-in balance patches, and the game having checker neutral is still there. And while I do acknowledge that the passion for the fans of the game can often be blown out of proportion, I might argue that exists for all games people are passionate about, so stop attacking each other and try to listen.
Wanting what Melee brought to the table isn’t bad, and maybe if the people who attached would research or listen to others, you would know why too.
Or play the damn game, I don’t know.
BronzeGreekGod Again, how would we get this faster game? And would we want to in the same vein as Melee? I'm sure the answer you will give to the second answer is no, but I'm curious about the first. Also, we can't have the game be too fast, else it might cause it to create too high a skill floor. Honestly, I think the overall speed shown in Ultimate is a perfect amount of quickness in terms of overall moves and how you combo or chase into them, but I would definitely like more combo-DI based play, as well as more potential for combos without making the game faster as a whole (in terms of animations, gravity, physics, etc). So what would I do to achieve this?
