What about a handicap list?

[TaurToph]

*IF* brawl comes out with a kinda unbalanced roster like melee did... what if we make an official list, like the tiers, with a set handicap to be used with every character, with the purpose of balancing them?

It's just a idea, sorry if it's ****ty.

 

[Fawriel]

Hmm, flamebait topic.

I'm not sure about that. The concept itself seems fair enough, but on the other hand, it just seems wrong. You can already beat a Fox with Mewtwo, for instance. There are some who may take pride in mastering a lower tier character...
Or something. I'm not sure why, but it just seems wrong.

But even still, handicap would have to be better in the first place for that to happen.
As it is, handicap has a weird effect on knockback and stun time and so on.
A Bowser with higher handicap can insta-kill floaties with his Koopa Klaw forward throw on many stages, given that the handicap is high enough. The same goes for the Fortress, which is his fastest move.
Luigi suddenly turns broken as well as his fair gains tremendous knockback even at 0% and with the reduced stun time in the air, comboing him is nigh impossible.

It just wouldn't work.

 

[TaurToph]

Hmm, flamebait topic.

Just cuz it's short? There's not really much to say and my english don't allow me to say more anyway.

A Bowser with higher handicap can insta-kill floaties with his Koopa Klaw forward throw on many stages, given that the handicap is high enough. The same goes for the Fortress, which is his fastest move.

Even if that happens, it'd be ok. Think how hard is to him hit something.
And, if he comes to be broken, it's just adjust him to a lower handicap.

That's why we should have an expert team to judge and build the handcap lists, together with the community. With enough study and dedication we can do it.

Take Mewtwo for example. He's slow, floaty, light and weak. Giving him some handicap to make it a bit heavier and strongier wouldn't sound weird, but would move it closer to the competitive level. And giving Peach and Sheik a bit less handicap don't sound weird, too.

I'm sure it can be done if we work hard.


Just try it.
Pick mewtwo or any low-tier you can use well with handicap=9 and fight a fox with handicap=7. You'll see what i'm talking about.

 

[_Phloat_]

Well, this kinda would make the game seem.. odd. I mean, if you do the same matchup you mentioned without the handicap, it just feels more like smash to me and less like an attempt to make the tourney scence have a few more characters..

And if you have a high handicap, infinates (there WILL be some in brawl, probably at least one) will be really easy due to reduced knockback,,,

 

[Sariku]

Sorry, but bad Idea. I mean, if a character is low tier, and you like him, you don't whine and give you a handicap, it just means practice. I bet the best bowser player in the world could beat one of the best shieks, without handicaps, cause of practice. I think handicaps are cheating, I only use them for LVL 9 computers so they can toughen up. That way it teaches me to dodge and such.

 

[Caael]

The creators don't make tiers, and they dont know how characters will turn out in sense of how well they play. And even if they did know if characters were too good or rubbish, they wouldn't have handicaps to make them better/worse, they'd just change the character physics so they aren't broken anymore.

 

[TaurToph]

Caael it's about the multiplayer "individual handicap" option.

Yea yea of course the better bowser of the world can beat a sheik, but can a pro bowser, in the same level of a pro... say, fox... win? It's not like we're giving bowser a OHKO for every neutral A. It'd be just a 1, 2 or 3 handicaps more. Just enough to survive a bit more time and hurt a bit more.

Too bad you don't like the idea.
Let's just hope brawl comes with more playable characters at tournaments, then!

Edit: Off topic, can someone tell me how do I upload my avatar instead of using the standarts?

 

[Falco&Victory]

Caael brings up a good point actually. Is anyone going to wait for the more balanced PAL version to come out just to make smash more competitive and less broken?

 

[_Phloat_]

Yeah, but what if PAL comes out and then people realize that wario's fair can OHKO with its weak hitboxx

 

[1048576]

Can you imagine chainthrowing if one character hardly got knocked back? If you think it's frustrating now...

 

[Chromeless]

Can you imagine chainthrowing if one character hardly got knocked back? If you think it's frustrating now...

I pretty sure that the Brawl team will have removed chain throwing from the default game when it comes out, after all it's simply a matter of rescaling throw knockback so that it's higher at low percentages but not too high at higher percentages. However, putting handicaps on will likely screw things over considerably...

 

[dizzy]

There would be all sorts of controversy, since there's no way to set a real standard. Who's to say whether Sheik deserves a 5 or a 6? Does Bowser get a 9 because he's bottom tier, or an 8 because he's slightly better than Mewtwo? Would the SBR vote on it and expect everyone to conform?

Wouldn't really work.

 

[McFox]

There will definitely be tiers in Brawl, and there isn't likely to be handicaps. Does any other game do that? If you want to play a low-tier character, you'll have to be really good to stand up to higher-tier characters. That's how it works in Melee, and while people complain about the tiers, the Tajes and Gimpyfishes of the world prove that you don't need handicaps to win with low-tier characters.