Why are Level 9 CPU's So Much Better than Brawl's?

[PeaceKeeperU]

I've noticed that level 9 CPUs in the new Smash 4 (is it still called Smash 4 now?) are much better than Brawl's level 9 CPUs. They seem to execute rising aerials and landing aerials almost frame perfectly and ledge trump or follow you off the stage to gimp you. In addition, they seem to throw out riskier moves if they know you are at a high percent, close to a kill percent. It's weird, but it seems that when the CPU smells blood it will throw out so many unsafe options to take your stock.

I've noticed that in team battles, level 9 CPUs get a terrible tunnel vision and focus only a single player at a time, sometimes walking right into hitboxes from attacks thrown out by the player's teammate. So in this sense, the single-track mindset of the CPU in doubles and triples seems to make the CPU pick all these questionable options that would be safer in singles but highly punishable in doubles. In Brawl, I didn't notice such a prevalent tunnel vision, and the CPUs seem to act like they are conscious that they are playing against a team of more than one player.

Even so, the CPUs in Smash 4 seem to be incredibly smart and adaptive. In addition to their quicker reflexes, they seem to predict my most picked options for approaching, countering, edge guarding, and recovering and always make hard reads instead of soft reads. It's almost as if they tally up all my options for each scenario in a queue and pick the option with the highest number of times used to throw out the hard punish.

Still, I think the level 9 CPUs in Smash 4 are much better at playing smash than in previous games, where in Melee level 9 CPUs would randomly self destruct and in Brawl they would never attempt to gimp or edgehog. But I still wonder, what makes the CPUs in Smash 4 play so well? I mean, these CPUs are amazing at the game! I'm mostly curious about what kinds of thought processes and changes needed 16 years (from Smash 64's release) to figure out how to program amazing CPUs.

Mostly though, I only have two questions:

How do CPUs "think" when playing against human players, who are inherently more unpredictable than computer programs, in Smash 4?
What makes CPUs significantly better skilled when playing against humans now in Smash 4 than in Brawl?

 

[Kulty]

OK, so let me tell you this. Since I no longer play online because of lag, I really like to mess around with the level 9 CPUs trying to discover so weaknesses that they have. So far, training against them can be good and bad, but I would mostly say bad. The reason for that is that like you said, you can't practice mindgames against them. It's because they know what you try to do. To answer your first question, maybe it's because the CPUs can analyse the way you play your character or the game itself. They basically try to counter your way on how you play the game. I don't know if I answer your question properly, but that's all I could find.

As for the second question, maybe the development team of the game and Sakurai himself try to watch some of the videos and replays online to watch some of the things that the CPUs couldn't do and that humans can. Remember back at the time when Smash 3DS was released but not the Wii U version? You may notice that the AI back then was really similar to Brawl's AI (always airdodge as soon as they got hit by an attack with powerful knockback). So players can capitalize on this in order to punish them. Then, when came the patch 1.0.6 version (I think), the AI has been massively improved (which is completely unnecessary imo, because they're already good, making them even more annoying). You basically listed all of them so don't need to go into details. Maybe the development team analyses the simple tricks and combos that humans can do, so they implement it on the AI to make them as close as the human level.

Also, even if the AI is really good, they are some aspects that you can capitalize on. First off, try to attack them constantly in the air so that you force the AI to airdodge and when they land during the animation of the airdodge, they have landing lag, giving you a free punish. One basic strategy. I won't go into every one of them, but if you want, I can list some characters bad AI habits that I found when I messed around if you don't mind. Hope that I answered your two questions!

Well, you can call Smash 4 or Smash Wii U, but most people call it Smash 4. I personally would call this game << Super Smash Bros. Universe>> like how it was supposed to be called in the first place.

 

[Crystallum]

Cause AI is evolving.

 

[Swampertrulz]

I think it's because the people at Sora Ltd. are focusing more and more on the AI each game. I think that's very good.

 

[MarioMeteor]

All of those questions can be answered at one time, with one answer: The CPU's read your inputs. They know what you're going to do, when you do it. Sometimes they react, sometimes they don't. When they do react though, it's flawless. Try to hit a CPU that's around Level 6 and above in the air. It will air dodge every single time, frame-perfectly. It's especially noticeable with characters that have Counters, Marth, Lucina, and Shulk being the best examples. If you throw out a random or unsafe attack, it will Counter without hesitation, perfectly timed. The Shulk AI will even use the back slash variant of Vision for maximum knockback, which is why it's extremely dangerous fighting a CPU that has Iai Counter, Heavy Counter, or Power Vision.
Speaking of customs, apparently, the AI doesn't completely grasp them. Some custom moves, such as the aforementioned three, the AI will use perfectly, while there are some, such as Mighty Falcon Punch, Soaring Tornado, and Warlock Blade, that it will never use correctly and at the most random of times. Many times has the Captain Falcon AI jumped off the edge and did a Mighty Falcon Punch while plummeting to its inevitable doom. You'll notice that with custom moves that sacrifice hitboxes, the AI will treat it as if it were still using the default version, for example, the Captain Falcon AI will often try to combo Falcon Strike after two jabs, even though Falcon Strike's hitbox is at the apex of the jump. The Link and Marth AIs, when using Whirling Spin and Dolphin Jump respectively, will not attempt to sweetspot the ledge with them, and will sometimes use them randomly. The Link AI will also humorously wiggle back and forth, as if making an effort not to get punished for misusing the move.
There are some custom moves, such as Hyper Bomb and Mii Brawler's Exploding Side Kick, that the AI will not make a conscious effort to dodge.
In conclusion, while the AI is indeed more advanced than its previous iterations, it is still very exploitable and unstable.

 

[holymario]

Here a Video on how to beat them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFBnhaXql24

 

[Goesasu]

Try some amiibo fighting. Each time the CPU gets betters so does amiibos.

Sheik, Fox, Mario and Luigi amiibos are all something else. Even though you cant practice mind games they will improve your fundamentals, reaction while teaching you whats safe and whats not.
IMO amiibos are and amazing opportunity to practice and learn, as long as you know they unavoidable shortcomings. i,e,Luigi and sheik amiibos doesnt combo enough etc....
Play bad against an amiibo and you will loose.

 

[Xzsmmc]

Try some amiibo fighting. Each time the CPU gets betters so does amiibos.

Sheik, Fox, Mario and Luigi amiibos are all something else. Even though you cant practice mind games they will improve your fundamentals, reaction while teaching you whats safe and whats not.
IMO amiibos are and amazing opportunity to practice and learn, as long as you know they unavoidable shortcomings. i,e,Luigi and sheik amiibos doesnt combo enough etc....
Play bad against an amiibo and you will loose.

Amiibos may as well be lvl 9s with a higher damage output. They have the same behavior (perfect dodging/shielding all day erry day) and only sort of learn what you try to teach them.

 

[Eggggggggggbert]

I see combo game as one of the reasons Smash competitive is so brilliant. Its such an artful and fluid sort of feat, done with such urgency and power as to do your best to remove the control from the other player and take their stock with ease. In Smash 4, the combos are definitely of a different breed compared to Melee and with these new level 9 CPUs, I feel comboing is extremely difficult. Their frame perfect shields/dodges/grabs/etc just make for very defensive, very timely hit trading.
I've always been frustrated with the computers as they always managed to do some things too well. In Melee they always seemed to jab stall you at the most random times, not effective but they did stop you in your place from continuing whatever juggling you attempt to do. In this game, their frame-perfect abilities to remove themselves from your aggressiveness with 100 percent success is extremely frustrating. When a real play throws those out, it is at a decided interval. They can be baited out and punished. CPUs always make the right choice because they do it as you do it.