Wii U / 3DS Useless?

[TheSmasherNamedArete]

This has been on my mind for a long time. In fact, since the first day I got my hands on Ultimate on its launch day. Where does Wii U / 3DS fit in now? Who even still plays it?

Look, I'm a solid believer that most entries in the Smash series have their own reasons to still be played to this day. Even without mods! I'm talking base game, no bells, no whistles. They all control different, they all have different styles, and most importantly, they have different announcers. (Not saying a have anything wrong with the guy we have now, but he is the only announcer thus far to appear in two games.) Ultimate is practically just an upgraded Wii U / 3DS with the fat cut off. Even the art for these two (three?) games reflect this, just look at any character's art that appear in both. One looks like a beta, and the other looks like a finished product.

Basically what I'm getting at here is. Ultimate existing in the state it does, seemingly makes Smash Wii U useless. Ultimate existing on the Nintendo Switch, seemingly makes Smash 3DS, useless. Unless you're broke... But even then, why would you not just get a Switch Lite?!
(If you can't afford a Switch Lite, I honestly don't know what to say. I found one on Amazon for like $175, and that only took like four minutes or less to search up. GET A JOB!)

Personally I could go on all week about this, but I'd just like to know what you all think. Are Wii U / 3DS useless, or are they useful? Why do you think that?

 

[1FC0]

I disagree. Smash 4 has very different physics which IMO are much more fun, it has TP Link, I like Shulk Better, it has R.O.B.'s better pummel animation, and I prefer power shielding over parrying. Smash 4 also has trophies which are vastly superior to spirits and the 3DS version has cool 3D. Also, the 3DS 1-player mode is arguably superior to that of Ultimate.

 

[Janx_uwu]

I think Smash 4 will become recognized as, frankly, "the one that had better online." That's all I hear people regard it as these days. Just like any other Smash game, it has its own things to stand out. Smash Run is really cool and has a lot of potential. It has transformation Final Smashes. It has trophies, and some people prefer their museum-like aspect over the chaotic fun of Spirits.
World of Light, unpopular opinion here, is a lot of fun. I love the handcrafted environments, the neat little worlds you can explore like with Castlevania and Donkey Kong Country, and it's way more fun if you go for a 100% save file, Nuzlocke, or no spirits run. It can be addicting to try and collect as many spirits as you possibly can, even if they are just PNG images.
Overall, I would say Ultimate is the better deal. It has a more active online playerbase, more characters, is easier to get into competitively, has a better single player (and THAT'S a hill I'm willing to die on), and I think it has the best core multiplayer of any Smash game.
Brawl though I would prefer over both, it does a lot of things right despite being a competitive nightmare

 

[1FC0]

It has transformation Final Smashes

After going off-line I suddenly realised that I forgot to something like that. I personally think that the Final Smashes in SSBU tend to be far more boring than those of Smash4 were. Maybe I forgot to mention this because my main is R.O.B. and R.O.B. is one of the few characters to actually get a huge upgrade to his Final Smash in SSBU compared to Smash4 (though not compared to SSBB if we only compare gameplay and not aesthetics).

Basically many Final Smashes are now just large hitboxes near the characters and then a lot of damage and knockback. Gameplay-wise they're boring. Some have great animations such as King K.Rool's with the awesome bad DK64 ending finally playing out for real (him destroying the island was only implied but never seen in DK64) and Ridley destroying Samus's ship and having it fall down in the background afterward.

However most are even pretty boring in how they look. Take for example the space animals. They still got the same FS as each other but now it's just a boring cutscene of them firing in space. Controlling the Landmasters was much more fun. Bowser now just gets one punch instead of getting to play as Giga Bowser, Wario gets a lame slapstick routine instead of his janky Wario man moveset, Sonic now flies around like a ****** instead of the player being allowed to fly freely etc. It's all restricted and boring. FS's generally are the worst they've ever been in SSBU IMO.

 

[1FC0]

I think Smash 4 will become recognized as, frankly, "the one that had better online."

Not by me. No way Smash4 had better online. FG was filled with noobs that I easilly crushed. At least in Elite Smash I always get paired against opponents with similar skill. GSP is also a much better score system than win/lose ratio. Also, choosing between just Ω stages or playing with time is stupid. Ultimate gives me a much better ruleset. It also has tournaments which is a nice improvement over Smash 3DS. And arenas are also cool. IMO SSBU beats Smash4 in online by a wide margin.

has a better single player (and THAT'S a hill I'm willing to die on),

Classic is nerfed, Smash Run is gone, and WoL is very repetitive and boring. Most fights are extremely easy fights against lame opponents with lame gimmicks such as spamming a certain move. Though it does contain some cool parts such as the Zelda world and the boss fights. Smash4 single player was pretty limited but Smash4 had the far superior collectible and with WoL being as boring and repetitive as it is it's a close call IMO. But if you like repetitive easy fights over and over again then I can see why you'd like WoL so much.

 

[TheSmasherNamedArete]

After reading the comments, I think I'm starting to see the usefulness. Though to the untrained eye, I'm sure they'd mistake the two for the same game, like a MK8 and MK8 Deluxe situation. But as we know, that's not at all the case.

Though that brings up another question. Should Ultimate have differed itself more from Wii U / 3DS? Such as a completely new style, new narrator, etc? Because every other Smash before did.

 

[1FC0]

SSBU is pretty different. It's very rush-down based. It even starts the game on FD at mid-range instead of long-range. R.O.B. used to be able to start off with a completely safe Robo Beam at the start of a game unless the opponent had a reflector but now many reflectorless characters make this unsafe by being able to jump over it and approach before R.O.B. can defend. Characters can also act out of dash which also greatly benefits rush-down.

 

[Janx_uwu]

Not by me. No way Smash4 had better online. FG was filled with noobs that I easilly crushed. At least in Elite Smash I always get paired against opponents with similar skill. GSP is also a much better score system than win/lose ratio. Also, choosing between just Ω stages or playing with time is stupid. Ultimate gives me a much better ruleset. It also has tournaments which is a nice improvement over Smash 3DS. And arenas are also cool. IMO SSBU beats Smash4 in online by a wide margin.

Was just talking about connection. SSBU is better in the other areas, I agree.

Classic is nerfed

Each character has a hand-crafted special mode, and it's really fun to run through them all and get the references. And contrary to what most believe I find it really fun to speedrun the bonus round that's before the final boss.

Smash Run is gone

Yeah I do wish it was brought back.

Most fights are extremely easy fights against lame opponents with lame gimmicks such as spamming a certain move

I feel a different opinion here. While many are easy, there are a lot that are really tough. The world maps, for both the overworld and the mini-worlds inside of them, are drop dead gorgeous in their painted art style-certainly more appealing than any of Subspace's environments. The spirits can be boring, but a lot of them are really fun, like, of course Snorlax is a giant King K Rool that doesn't move. Stuff like that is really cool. Not to mention you can take up a more difficult challenge, by doing a Nuzlocke run or No Spirits run. Which are both fun in their own right.

Smash4 had the far superior collectible and with WoL

More of a personal preference thing. If you prefer the museum aspect of Smash, then yeah, you probably hate spirits and love trophies. But if you're more for practicality and chaotic fun, you'll prefer spirits. Personally I love both in their own right.

But if you like repetitive easy fights over and over again then I can see why you'd like WoL so much.

Again, there are a lot of difficult battles, even if you roll out your best Spirit team. Not to mention, like I said above, going for a challenging No Spirits or Nuzlocke run is really fun. I don't like repetitive and easy gameplay-there's a reason Sonic Forces is my least favorite in the series.

 

[EpicNoob]

Who even still plays it?

I do (granted, I can't play online since I moved last year and I'm not bothered to connect to my wifi to play an online mode which is probably dead).

At least in Elite Smash I always get paired against opponents with similar skill.

I'm not in Elite Smash, but I'll put this out here: The opponent and I usually have a large margin in terms of GSP. I don't find people with similar skill a lot of the time. It's always significantly higher/lower for whatever reason.

 

[1FC0]

I'm not in Elite Smash, but I'll put this out here: The opponent and I usually have a large margin in terms of GSP. I don't find people with similar skill a lot of the time. It's always significantly higher/lower for whatever reason.

Maybe that's because you're too low on the ladder or maybe you do not play enough games with the same character. I'm both high up on Elite Smash and I've played many games with one single character.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

Not by me. No way Smash4 had better online. FG was filled with noobs that I easilly crushed. At least in Elite Smash I always get paired against opponents with similar skill. GSP is also a much better score system than win/lose ratio. Also, choosing between just Ω stages or playing with time is stupid. Ultimate gives me a much better ruleset. It also has tournaments which is a nice improvement over Smash 3DS. And arenas are also cool. IMO SSBU beats Smash4 in online by a wide margin

why do you get or lose gsp for winning or losing matches that don’t have competitive rules?

why can’t you have multiple people on the same console in arenas?

why can’t you add AI in arenas?

why must you move back a spot if you want to change a character

why can’t you change characters in quickplay?

wouldn’t call ultimate’s online a huge improvement, it may be a downgrade in some areas

 

[1FC0]

why can’t you have multiple people on the same console in arenas?

why can’t you add AI in arenas?

I only play random people, and you cannot do this either in Smash 4.

why do you get or lose gsp for winning or losing matches that don’t have competitive rules?

At least SSBU has a working ladder system. Smash 4 has nothing. It keeps track of wins and losses, but that is meaningless. SSBU consistently pairs me up with people of about equal skill while in Smash 4 I normally play against people who are vastly inferior to me.

why must you move back a spot if you want to change a character

why can’t you change characters in quickplay?

This I agree with, the character system is clunky. I think it is to rate characters seperately, which is a good idea. Otherwise switching character would be boring unless you are equally good with every character because it would mess up the match-making system. So even this has some merit to it. Smash 4 did not have this problem because Smash 4 had no skill-based match making to begin with.


Having said all that, I still think that Smash 4 is the better game. The physics and mechanics are just much more fun in Smash 4. But SSBU's Online is vastly superior, I have to admit that. Having to choose between nothing but Omega stages or playing with time is stupid.

 

[Crazy Hand 2001]

I only play random people, and you cannot do this either in Smash 4.

smash 4 allows 2 vs 2 with randoms

if you’re playing with friends, you can have 2 players on a console too. Which you cannot do in ultimate’s arenas

 

[1FC0]

I do (granted, I can't play online since I moved last year and I'm not bothered to connect to my wifi to play an online mode which is probably dead).

BTW, it seems online is still alive. A few days ago I tried it and I quickly found opponents. I searched 2 times and both times it probably took roughly 1 or 2 minutes to find someone. It looks like Smash4 online will remain in active use until the day Nintendo takes down 3DS online services. (And maybe even beyond that day, https://pretendo.network/ looks somewhat promising, though it does not even mention Smash4 right now.)