That's ok, I'm a big boy. I can take it.
I have been neglecting this chart in lieu of working on other, generally non-smash related, projects. I deserve some scorn for that, for sure. I no longer have the time (or the desire) to look through all the threads in any sort of regular fashion anymore.
DanGR certainly deserves a lot of praise for his chart - he didn't like mine or my method so he set out and made his own using an intelligent method of forgoing his direct opinion and opting to only take his entries from a character's match-up thread. Good stuff and I'm in full support of it.
That being said, I'm sticking with mine for now and I prefer it over a communal chart for several reasons. Primarily, this chart is now just a way for me to jot down how I personally view the match-ups. Yes, it's how *I* view them. Me, an old geezer from Ottawa who has thus far only gone to one large-scale tournament (and I didn't even make it out of pools ). How then can this chart possibly be "correct"? Why would a non-'notable smasher' just stick to his guns and change things only when he's convinced, not when people make lots of noise about it? The answer is cynicism.
There are certain few match-ups where everybody agrees on how it goes. The vast majority, however, have at least a few detractors (and many are basically toss ups). I have seen some match-up threads where I disagree with things so much that I barely ever look at it again (there's also a time thing but apart from that...). I have seen small-scale panics on these boards whenever some new gimmick or 'advanced technique' has been discovered. I've realized that the most vocal and post-happy players aren't always the best source for information and that in the end, most match-ups come down to experience + opinion.
Is there room for two charts? Is there any point? In my opinion, no. When Dan's chart is 90% finished or so (and I will hopefully have the full skeleton for my little Flash project ready by then) I'll happily retire this chart. It bugs me to no end that I haven't found a job in my field yet (Game Development - Ottawa isn't exactly bursting with jobs for that...) and thus I haven't had the funds to run around attending tournaments. At the same time, I've also taken up other projects and the like which have taken up my focus (which is a poor excuse though...).
Until Dan's chart is complete, I believe that this chart should be good enough for players to take a quick glance and see how characters relatively stack up against each other... in MY eyes at least.
Irrelevant note: Go play Mother 3. Now.