Which had the better pre-release era: Brawl or Sm4sh?

[Canuckduck]

I feel like it all has been said in this thread. So, I'd like to just join you guys in reminiscing about the Dojo days...
Brawl was a very weird game, in that the hype from the pre-release days was a much better experience than playing the game itself. Not to say Brawl was a tragic, heartbreaking gameplay experience, I just had a ton of fun during the speculation days. The excitement of staying up all night, refreshing the Dojo, and then scrolling down to see the red character bar, and then scrolling down a little bit further to see the top part of a new character! It was so magical... the mental picture of this game that I was slowly putting together of the course of however months the dojo was up. I was honestly a little bit sad when they posted that farewell note..

Remember the magic of seeing this for the first time?

I remember thinking that Melee looked so good already, and that it would be hard to improve the graphics any further. And then the beginning of this trailer just blew my mind! The Final Smash, Meta Knight and Pit fighting eachother while flying, the crispness of the sound effects...
And then Snake, ontop of that (SHOOOOWTIME.)

Smash 4 has been wonderful in a different way. Never going to forget the Invitational, or the live character reveal that crushed Gematsu and opened up a figurative river of dreams.
Brawl taught me a few very important lessons about buying games. I feel like this time around, I know what I'm getting myself into, and I'm not going to ruin the experience by overhyping it. Nonetheless, from what I've seen this one's a keeper. I promised myself I wouldn't buy a Wii U until I saw whether they were going to continue dumbing down Smash (through gameplay at E3) and I was not disappointed

My mouth dropped to the floor after seeing Snake, and I had to get surgery to put it back in.

 

[Kevandre]

Pre-release Brawl was just sublime, man.

I wish I was here for it, instead of being in a Myspace Nintendo group for it. The humans here are far more tolerable.

But yeah. This is great, here, now. I love the character trailers and that we can always expect something good in a Nintendo Direct for Smash.

But the Brawl Dojo... S'goooood. And though Robin has filled my quota for "at least one character I'm hyped about," the newcomers from Brawl did that way more. Between Pokemon Trainer, Sonic & Olimar, I just about died with excitement for that game. And I still love it today. I do hope Smash 4 is better though if for no other reason than evolution of the series.

 

[STiCKYBULL3TZ]

I would say Brawl had the better pre-release. The community was at its peak with Melee and the idea of a new Smash for the Wii brought on crazy hype. Plus the addition of new characters like Snake, Sonic, Olimar, and Diddy Kong brought on tremendous excitement. Everyone was ready for the next-gen Smash to compete in and get hype over. I personally was not in the Smash scene heavily but even I would check everyday for new updates and info.

Smash 4 has a great deal of pre-release hype. The only reason I wouldn't put it above Brawl's is because Melee vs. Brawl vs. Smash 4 conversation continues to hold it back.

 

[Senario]

Brawl pre-release for sure. Back then I didn't know a lot about Nintendo despite playing their games. I loved checking the Dojo updates every weekday and I saved every photo on the website onto my computer. Every update, whether it was a character, item, stage, song, or game mechanic, completely hyped me up. I couldn't contain it. Whether I was at a friend's place, at school, or on vacation, I'd be checking and obsessing over all the details Sakurai spilled. It was wonderful. Not to mention I was part of the NSider Forums and speculated with people there. It was a very positive experience that unfortunately came to an end in I believe September with the Snake and Golden Hammer update. The NSider Forums closed, and I had nobody to speculate with, online, at least. My friends didn't really care for Smash pre-release as much as I did. I took everything in like a sponge. Great, great memories. I'll always remember that experience. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Now, it kinda sucks, to be honest. I'm glad we're not getting as much daily info as we did in the Brawl days, but like many have said the hype comes and goes then comes again. Like, it's not consistent at all, but each major reveal is exciting. E3 wasn't as hype-inducing as usual, but the Direct sure as hell was. The Direct was probably the highlight of pre-release SSB4 for me. That was sooooo awesome. I watched it with my friend and we were ecstatic. I loved it, it was amazing, it was awesome, too bad nothing else has reached that level of hype.

It's also kind of a shame how negative people on the Internet are about this one. All the heels hate, all the bitterness about Brawl, all the people saying it's Brawl 2.0, all the people mad about which characters Sakurai didn't include, it's just very negative. It sucks. I've been kinda negative too at times. But I feel as if the fanbase is pretty divided, but fighting over the pettiest things. It's nonsense and I hate it. It's irrirtating. See, I'm kinda complaining right now.

But yeah, Brawl pre-release was it for me. Sooooo good. It was even better when I got the game and played it every weekend. Oh my god, it was great.

If brawl had been a decently competitive game and the series showed consistency in gameplay through releases I can say for sure the community wouldn't be divided among competitive/party lines. Regardless of your personal opinion of brawl it was really bad for the community due to how divisive it was. Now we have to look at a new smash game with skepticism because our trust in the series was broken thanks to the same guy who created melee. Really, it all goes back to Sakurai's decisions as to why the community is so divided.

Brawl's hype worked against it hard.

 

[Kevandre]

Edit: Nevermind. I'm opening a can of crap I just don't want to deal with. Brawl v Melee fights irritate me a lot

 

[LancerStaff]

Brawl, if only because it had all the heavy hitters to announce. Wario, DDD, MK, PT, Snake, Sonic... The only character that compares is Megaman, but that's after everybody and their mothers expected him. Pac-Man too, I guess, but his haters damped things.

 

[kazrisk]

For me not only is there a lot of hype for Smash 4 but there is also hype for Amiibo and how the Wii U scene will change with the launch of such a major game. Brawl was launching on a successful console while Smash 4 is launching on a console that, while recently gaining momentum, is still not doing great. On top of that it is also a game that is finally making Nintendo embrace competitive play with one of their family games, which they have avoided for a long time. Add to that the recent success of the Smash Bros. documentary and the crowd that has pulled in, Melee having such a strong revival and Project M gathering more and more people over the years, I'm leaning towards Smash 4. There is so much coming with it outside of the game itself.

 

[Aqueducts]

I'm someone who hates surprises. I'm always looking for information so I can know as much about the game as possible! Brawl told us so much almost everyday until release. I knew so much going into the game that when playing I got everything promised to me and I enjoyed the hell out of what I played. Unlike most I enjoyed Brawl just as much as Melee. Don't get me wrong I'm excited for Smash 4 too, but the lack of definitive knowledge makes me slightly neurotic.

Oh, and Pokemon Trainer's reveal made me cry. I could finally play as Squirtle in Smash. My childhood dream was answered. That was the best feeling I've ever had with a reveal. Rosalina's was close though.

 

[Icedragonadam]

Brawl by far. Each update on the site felt more exciting than most of the PoTD(even the infamous You Must Recover update)

You Must Recover> Luigi's Nose.

 

[Conda]

I was asked on reddit if Brawl was destined to be a flop, and if it needed to happen for Smash 4 to be the way it is.

I responded:
Back when Brawl was coming out, some of us adjusted to the changes we saw in Brawl and began to speak of melee in kind of 'negative' ways, calling wavedashing a mistake and for people who insulted brawl to be wrong and wanting melee 2.0 instead of the magical egg sakurai was presenting us with Brawl.

The casual and competitive playerbase was much more fractured than it is now. It continued to be this way until Smash 4's daily updates and obvious support by Sakurai and Nintendo for competitive players. Basically, Smash 4's hype is very much a result of its design - a design which shouts "coexist" loudly. Honestly, I think we weren't even prepared for Smash 4 back then. We had to mature and let the competitive scene grow. Each game has growing pains like this when it becomes competitive, I think.

It makes sense that a party fighting game wouldn't have an easy transition into being acknowledged by its creator, never mind the public, as being a tournament game.

Brawl being what it was allowed for melee to keep growing and for it to make a splash in the gaming world as a RESILIENT and UNIQUE fighting game. Similar to how the street fighter community is wily to recognizing which of its games is the most competitively suited, no matter what 'new' games come out. It speaks bounds of integrity and, eventually, maturity.

Brawl is also it's own unique competitive fighter. It is more pensive and mindgame-focused than melee, which is unarguably more dexterity and technically focused. They're both beautiful creations, and both are beautiful mistakes. Melee wasn't supposed to be player competitively because it wasn't thought of back then, and brawl was designed to intentionally NOT be a competitive fighter. Both became competitive fighters.

But Smash 4 is unique - it's a purposeful creation. Sakurai is being intentional with each little bit, and the product we get will be a very lucid creation from a masterful game creator and his skilled tekken team.

Smash 4 is the result of Brawl being a flop, but also the result of Brawl being a success. It flopped, but was loved and adapted to by some players who preferred how it played. The love of melee and brawl is strong, and that love is finally understood by Sakurai and nintendo and utilized to create Smash 4.

So yes, brawl had to happen for people to understand what Smash 4 really means. The invitational tournament, final destination versions of each stage, 'for glory' 1v1 online mode -- Smash 4 is a response to Smash's history. It is finally a self-aware creation, understanding its roots and where its from, and what it has become.

And I think people are understanding that, hence the kind of 'relaxed' hype Smash 4 has compared to Brawl.

People are laid back now, accepting Sakurai's updates in good faith. We don't foresee negative slap-in-the-face things equivalent like "tripping" or "low hitstun" coming up ahead in an update. This is because Sakurai and Nintendo finally seem to understand that Smash has a competitive fanbase that love their games, and they are treating them like a demographic now instead of an enemy.

This is a new, large change and has affected Smash 4's development in the most positive of ways.

 

[Squii The Fish]

If brawl had been a decently competitive game and the series showed consistency in gameplay through releases I can say for sure the community wouldn't be divided among competitive/party lines. Regardless of your personal opinion of brawl it was really bad for the community due to how divisive it was. Now we have to look at a new smash game with skepticism because our trust in the series was broken thanks to the same guy who created melee. Really, it all goes back to Sakurai's decisions as to why the community is so divided.

Brawl's hype worked against it hard.

Man I am really glad I came around that "Smash Documentary/Rise of the P:M" thing last year.

The Brawl Melee divide thing sounds like a storm of soggy sandwhich's.

And if there is one thing I don't like. It's a sandwhich.

Spoiler

That is soaked.

I don't know how it went back in the day. But the smash 4 hype is near suffocating and I eagerly await the day that this vicious ride ends and we play the game. I don't know about you, but the game hype is starting to wear on me.

 

[Conda]

The hype is much more relaxed. People already got the opposite of Melee with Brawl, and now we know we can't get something much worse. (tongue in cheek I love both brawl and melee)
I mean, Brawl was competitive and had TRIPPING. Does anyone really appreciate how amazing that is? We can make a fighting game with random tripping a viable competitive game (minus mlg and such). Smash 4 will already be much better a tournament game than Brawl if it doesn't have tripping. All of the other additions are just gravy

The bar was low, but Nintendo and Sakurai embracing the competitive demographic is the best thing to happen to smash ever, I believe.

 

[tippy]

I remember the very first time I watched that Brawl trailer, and I was absolutely stunned. It's definitely true that since Melee was extremely well-received all around, there was no reason to believe this game wouldn't be up to that standard or even surpass it. Like, ****, Snake's in the game! There are really badass looking final smashes! There's a full fledged story mode with cutscenes and everything! How could it not be amazing? The pre-release period was fun, full of hype and speculation, and was pretty damn emotional.

I'm not saying Brawl sucked at all but the period right after it was released was sad. There were tons of people complaining about how slow it was, how online blew and how Subspace Emissary was a mess. Those are legitimate complaints. I can only see Brawl's pre-release as bittersweet now. Could it have even lived up to the hype in the end? Maybe. I know personally if the battle mechanics felt more solid and adventure mode wasn't tedious and boring aside from the cutscenes, I would've liked it a lot more. Some people had really ridiculous expectations and they wouldn't have been satisfied either way. Who knows.

Personally, I like how Nintendo is handling Smash 4. The Miiverse posts don't contain as much info as the Dojo posts but I think it's for the best that there's more of a mystery surrounding things. I'm older and more cynical now but I do think Sakurai is trying to make this game better than Brawl. It feels... calmer to me. Maybe because I'm not an over excited 13 year old anymore. I genuinely think Smash 4 will be pretty good and Nintendo actually hosting a tournament and bringing demos to Best Buy was a great idea. So, uh, answering the topic's question: I like Smash 4's a lot better even though Brawl had an incredible amount of hype to it.

 

[Conda]

Brawl's hype had nothing to do with the competitive community. Smash 4's does. Totally with Smash 4.

 

[Wander]

Brawl's pre-release was insane. I loved the Dojo, having full writeups for every new piece of info instead of just random screencaps. It also felt more organized, while the SSB4 website is just a big character select page.

Plus it honestly felt more hyped when a newcomer would just pop up on the website unannounced, instead of being teased the way they've done with SSB4 - "we've got a new trailer coming in this Nintendo Direct! Newcomer announced next Monday!"

Then there are all the leaks surrounding this game, which (accurate or not) I feel like have killed a lot of the hype around certain characters, because now they're expected. I know Brawl had leaks too, but they didn't feel as widespread or heavily debated as the ones for this game.

 

[Mighty_Guy100]

It's already almost over

 

[Fishbowl]

It's already almost over

Next time we're in this position, we'll be talking about Sma5h on the Nintendo X (which will probably be slightly less powerful than the PS5 and the Xbox Muve)
It'll go by like nothing. How often did you think about time passing between Brawl's release and the next smash announcement?

 

[Mighty_Guy100]

Next time we're in this position, we'll be talking about Sma5h on the Nintendo X (which will probably be slightly less powerful than the PS5 and the Xbox Muve)
It'll go by like nothing. How often did you think about time passing between Brawl's release and the next smash announcement?

I didint think about it at all until we brought the wii u actually. Time flies when your having fun.
Also sorry for the late response, I logged off and was playing my cousin in smash.

 

[ToothiestAura]

I'm gonna go ahead and say Smash 4 has the better pre-release era (I don't think I've seen anyone say that yet).

Brawl's was awesome for sure; the original trailer was great. The sheer amount of big-name characters was staggering. I do feel, though, all of the characters in Brawl's original trailer were utterly stomped by SSB4's reveal of Megaman (Sorry Snake, I love you, but you're no Megaman).

The Dojo's long explanations were nice for sure and it dropped new characters randomly which kicked ass. However, that was sort of un-hyping in itself. SSB4's new character announcements seem like much larger events because they happen only during certain events. I also don't like having so much information about everything like Brawl's Dojo gave us. I like surprises.

As for the characters themselves Brawl had more of the big names (at this point, the truly big names are running out), but SSB4 seems to be doing new things with characters, breaking the mold far more than Brawl did.

The biggest positive for SSB4 had to have been Smash Fest. That was incredible. It beats anything Brawl ever did. Brawl had E3 floor demos. SSB4 was brought to us. It also seems to spreading the demo love (Australian events, SDCC).

Other positives include the dual game release (Smash on the go). The flawed-but-still-awesome Invitational. The official, Smash-branded gamecube controllers. Live-event character reveals. Nintendo Treehouse at E3. And, hopefully, the upcoming 3DS tournament at SDCC.

Also, the fact that Brawl got delayed twice is pretty big downside in my opinion. SSB4 got delayed (sort of) but it's no where near the same.

 

[Renji64]

I can't be the only one who misses the music post from the dojo from brawl days. When i heard the X tunnel song i was geeked as hell.

 

[Conda]

I prefer Smash 4's hype. It's less about flashiness and building up expectations. We know more about the product we're going to get - the important parts, such as the philosophy behind the design. When brawl was coming out we knew nothing of the more casual focus and all the negatives, because it was hidden.

 

[majorasmaskfan]

I didn't follow Brawl as closely as I have Sm4sh but I feel like I preferred Brawls hype, if only because of how ignorant and childish certain (Not all) sections of the fan base are acting about this game, and who gets in. I feel like Brawl was a little more lenient in that regard.

That said, lets just hope the crybabies don't pick the game apart and wreck it for everyone with incessant whining if they don't get the Ridleys or K Rools or Mewtwos.

Brawl had the geno fanbase.

 

[Crome]

When brawl was coming out, the majority of the community was thinking "Wow this game looks amazing!" And "Wow look at this first demo! This game is gonna be melee 2.0!" But then it wasn't. And now people have a huge hatred for brawl because they expected m2.0.
Now that sm4sh is coming out, people are thinking the opposite. People are focusing in the negatives. "The game is too floaty." "Wii fit trainer? Seriously?" "This game is gonna be brawl 2.0."

I feel Nintendo/Sakurai is doing an amazing job at building hype, I think the community isn't supporting it as well.

 

[Fishbowl]

I didint think about it at all until we brought the wii u actually. Time flies when your having fun.
Also sorry for the late response, I logged off and was playing my cousin in smash.

Right? Lesson being, usually things are perfect until you start thinking about the past or future.

And don't worry about responding late, that's just a part of online forum etiquette. Respond when you get to it, and then I'll respond in turn whenever I can

 

[Bravetriforcer]

My hype levels for SSB4 have nothing on Brawl.

Partially it's because I was 13 when I was getting hyped during Brawl's development, and the hype train for me was as much a crash course in Nintendo history as it was an ad for Brawl. So ****ing fun.

Not to say I am not loving SSB4's hype train, but. Nothing. Will ever truly compare to Brawl's first trailer. I didn't even know who Snake was and my first response was "Holy ****ing ****." The only character I can say got something similar out of me was Robin, my second most wanted non-confirmed newcomer, and that was more just because it finally killed Gematsu.

 

[DavingTheWorld]

I honestly don't know. I didn't know how big SSB was until I saw a documentary on Melee.

 

[Guybrush20X6]

Brawl's hype was insane but the production values of the reveals have improved and the expectations are lower so there's a chance the game will blow our minds.

That said my favourite moment so far was when Chrom was deconfirmed. I was laughing my ass off when Smashboards just went *phhbt" and crashed. It brought the hype back.

 

[kazrisk]

Brawl's hype was insane but the production values of the reveals have improved and the expectations are lower so there's a chance the game will blow our minds.

That said my favourite moment so far was when Chrom was deconfirmed. I was laughing my *** off when Smashboards just went *phhbt" and crashed. It brought the hype back.

Not only was Chrom deconfirmed but Robin and Lucina were confirmed and Captain Falcon was announced as returning in a trailer expected to show off Shulk. It was just a complete mind-blow.

 

[DraginHikari]

Not only was Chrom deconfirmed but Robin and Lucina were confirmed and Captain Falcon was announced as returning in a trailer expected to show off Shulk. It was just a complete mind-blow.

Pretty much showed that no matter how much we overanaylize everything in this place our ability to predict the next action is always going to be somewhat limited.

 

[kazrisk]

Pretty much showed that no matter how much we overanaylize everything in this place our ability to predict the next action is always going to be somewhat limited.

For all we know Sakurai could announce a newcomer right.... NOW!!!!!! ................. Wait for it...

 

[Oracle_Summon]

Smash 4 by a mile.

Brawl had the hype build up on expecting it to be a Melee 2.0 game, but it went off pretty quickly for me. Why? There was no big announcements for Nintendo's own characters in the game. Why did only Snake and Sonic get a trailer in the game?

Don't get me wrong, I liked Sonic and Snake's trailers; however, why did they leave the rest of the Nintendo cast with nothing to promote their entry?

Look at the SSB4 Newcomer Trailers, especially Little Mac, Robin/Lucina and Rosalina's Trailer and tell me that doesn't represent the soul of each character's universe?

Brawl was made yes. It was not bad. But it just seemed Soul less. An act against the newly formed Competitive crowd to make the game more casual friendly while shunning part of the fan base.

Here is how things played out:

- Started everything. A game that drove us mad as we grew up. You could finally battle as Nintendo's Allstars in one big slam fest!!

- A game came out of the blue that we did not know about, but saw. We knew nothing of the game and yet, we were so excited whenever we learned something new in the game. Remember unlocking and not knowing they would be in the game? That was magical.
Melee is where the Competitive started taking root as more people started exploring more of its Mechanics.

- Then this game was announced. The hype meters were off the charts! Seeing and in Smash Brothers? and in the same game? Sign me up! However, there was one daunting thing that always lingered in the back of my mind back then.

Do you guys remember how Sakurai said that he was caught off guard for the game and was not contacted by Nintendo ahead of time? That is what threw me for a loop. Not just that, but also the fact that the cutscenes seemed pretty Soul less, well to me at least.

Then the game came out and the division started. Melee fans felt betrayed and lied to. They did have some high expectations, but nothing was revealed about the game. So:

- Project M was born. Melee Enthusiasts wanted to be able to play a different version of Brawl that supported their needs in what they wanted to happen in Brawl.

So now we have:

Melee. Brawl. And Project M. All of which are good games in their own right, but are completely divided in their idle version of Smash.

Nintendo just seemed to not care at this time. Only doing what Nintendo thought was best, when it came to handling Smash Brothers.

But then:

- Smash 4

Melee fans were skeptical because they thought it would be like Brawl.

Brawl fans were skeptical because they thought it was statement of how "Brawl needed to be fixed".

However it is different this time. Nintendo is trying to bring the Smash Fan base together, to make a game that works best for everyone. Sure it gets shunned, but that doesn't change the fact that Nintendo is not just some entity anymore. They are seen as more of a company that embraces its fans and tries to establish connections with them.

To be honest, I care more for ,,, and // Trailers than the one from Brawl, but why?

It is because the Newcomer Trailers were made with the fans in made, a gem of fan service to fans of those games. And the best part?

Nintendo is embracing all fans of Smash, instead of shunning a group away. They want the Smash community to come together and embrace Super Smash Brothers as a devoted fanbase.

Am I more cynical about Smash 4? Yes, but that came with age. As you get older you become more cynical and skeptical of things.

And you know what? Even as a Cynical and Skeptical Adult, Smash 4 still has me as excited as a child. Why? Because Nintendo is finally a company that shows it is willing to embrace us as a Fanbase and wants to be on good terms with us.

Super Smash Brothers 4 is a game that Nintendo has intentionally made, with full force, to embrace its fanbase and to show that it still has the means of being a great game along with all the others.

Do you know what SSB4 is? It is not just a game in the Franchise, but a Massive Stepping Stone of things to come and I would not have it any other way.

 

[Farorae]

Smash 4 by a mile.

Brawl had the hype build up on expecting it to be a Melee 2.0 game, but it went off pretty quickly for me. Why? There was no big announcements for Nintendo's own characters in the game. Why did only Snake and Sonic get a trailer in the game?

Don't get me wrong, I liked Sonic and Snake's trailers; however, why did they leave the rest of the Nintendo cast with nothing to promote their entry?

Look at the SSB4 Newcomer Trailers, especially Little Mac, Robin/Lucina and Rosalina's Trailer and tell me that doesn't represent the soul of each character's universe?

Brawl was made yes. It was not bad. But it just seemed Soul less. An act against the newly formed Competitive crowd to make the game more casual friendly while shunning part of the fan base.

Here is how things played out:

- Started everything. A game that drove us made as we grew up. You could finally battle as Nintendo's Allstars in one big slam fest!!

- A game came out of the blue that we did not know about, but saw. We knew nothing of the game and yet, we were so excited whenever we learned something new in the game. Remember unlocking and not knowing they would be in the game? That was magical.
Melee is where the Competitive started taking root as more people started exploring more of its Mechanics.

- Then this game was announced. The hype meters were off the charts! Seeing and in Smash Brothers? and in the same game? Sign me up! However, there was one daunting thing that always lingered in the back of my mind back then.

Do you guys remember how Sakurai said that he was caught off guard for the game and was not contacted by Nintendo ahead of time? That is what threw me for a loop. Not just that, but also the fact that the cutscenes seemed pretty Soul less, well to me at least.

Then the game came out and the division started. Melee fans felt betrayed and lied to. They did have some high expectations, but nothing was revealed about the game. So:

- Project M was born. Melee Enthusiasts wanted to be able to play a different version of Brawl that supported their needs in what they wanted to happen in Brawl.

So now we have:

Melee. Brawl. And Project M. All of which are good games in their own right, but are completely divided in their idle version of Smash.

Nintendo just seemed to not care at this time. Only doing what Nintendo thought was best, when it came to handling Smash Brothers.

But then:

- Smash 4

Melee fans were skeptical because they thought it would be like Brawl.

Brawl fans were skeptical because they thought it was statement of how "Brawl needed to be fixed".

However it is different this time. Nintendo is trying to bring the Smash Fan base together, to make a game that works best for everyone. Sure it gets shunned, but that doesn't change the fact that Nintendo is not just some entity anymore. They are seen as more of a company that embraces its fans and tries to establish connections with them.

To be honest, I care more for ,,, and // Trailers than the one from Brawl, but why?

It is because the Newcomer Trailers were made with the fans in made, a gem of fan service to fans of those games. And the best part?

Nintendo is embracing all fans of Smash, instead of shunning a group away. They want the Smash community to come together and embrace Super Smash Brothers as a devoted fanbase.

Am I more cynical about Smash 4? Yes, but that came with age. As you get older you become more cynical and skeptical of things.

And you know what? Even as a Cynical and Skeptical Adult, Smash 4 still has me as excited as a child. Why? Because Nintendo is finally a company that shows it is willing to embrace us as a Fanbase and wants to be on good terms with us.

Super Smash Brothers 4 is a game that Nintendo has intentionally made, with full force, to embrace its fanbase and to show that it still has the means of being a great game along with all the others.

Do you know what SSB4 is? It is not just a game in the Franchise, but a Massive Stepping Stone of things to come and I would not have it any other way.

To be fair, I don't think they were ever intentionally trying to shun anyone. Great post nonetheless.

 

[Oracle_Summon]

To be fair, I don't think they were ever intentionally trying to shun anyone. Great post nonetheless.

Agreed. I just wrote what I thought at the time and what the majority may think. It was mainly trying to represent the division in the Smash Community.

And thanks.

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

If brawl had been a decently competitive game and the series showed consistency in gameplay through releases I can say for sure the community wouldn't be divided among competitive/party lines. Regardless of your personal opinion of brawl it was really bad for the community due to how divisive it was. Now we have to look at a new smash game with skepticism because our trust in the series was broken thanks to the same guy who created melee. Really, it all goes back to Sakurai's decisions as to why the community is so divided.

Brawl's hype worked against it hard.

I think you mean a different word than competitive.

 

[Senario]

I think you mean a different word than competitive.

No I mean competitive. The overly defensive play and slowness of brawl added with a good number of anti competitive mechanics made it not a competitive fighter and not a longterm attendant of EVO. Sure, you could make the game competitive if you tried hard enough but generally melee is the one people went back to because of lack of options and in some cases not having fun with Brawl.

If brawl had been similar to melee or 64 like expected then there would be no community fragmentation. You wouldn't have tired melee vs brawl arguments and generally the casual players and competitive players wouldn't interact much like the other fighting game communities. Besides the occasional player who wants to get better and puts in the time and effort to do so. Regular play would be items and stage hazards and competitive would still be doing their own thing. Not being recognized by the fighting game community as a competitive game is kind of a big deal.

 

[Rockaphin]

Pre-Brawl was one of my middle school highlights. I remember checking the website and discussing what was shown at school. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about this Smash. While I'm very hyped for it, there's no one else locally that shows the same excitement as me.

 

[Lithium017]

I feel as if the Smash for Wii U and 3DS has a lot more hype - Sakurai has really kept consistent interaction with the fans this time around via the website and Miiverse which has been awesome

 

[#HBC | Red Ryu]

No I mean competitive. The overly defensive play and slowness of brawl added with a good number of anti competitive mechanics made it not a competitive fighter and not a longterm attendant of EVO. Sure, you could make the game competitive if you tried hard enough but generally melee is the one people went back to because of lack of options and in some cases not having fun with Brawl.

If brawl had been similar to melee or 64 like expected then there would be no community fragmentation. You wouldn't have tired melee vs brawl arguments and generally the casual players and competitive players wouldn't interact much like the other fighting game communities. Besides the occasional player who wants to get better and puts in the time and effort to do so. Regular play would be items and state hazards and competitive would still be doing their own thing. Not being recognized by the fighting game community as a competitive game is kind of a big deal.

Now I know your using the wrong word. Anti competitive would be tripping, it adds a random factor that doesn't even promote good gameplay.

Brawl still is a competitive game, it favors a different skill set which doesn't remove any competitive aspects of it gameplay wise. It does favor defense play more than it should, but at the same time things like this look worse and it makes game more desensitized to any kind of defensive of keep away play. For some reason people seem to strongly look down on any sort of defensive play in smash, despite the fact high level players in melee do it as well and melee and a whole has gotten more campy than what it was 5 years ago.

Defensive play doesn't make a game less competitive. Brawl, while still going way too far at that end of the spectrum, was still a competitive game since it still rewarded the more skillful player and actual gameplay. People like Guile, Chun-Li, Blanka play get the lead and hold it in street fighter. It wasn't bingo/slot/a lottery.

What you're referring to is it as a spectator sport. Which Melee is far better to watch and Brawl definitely failed in that regard.

I get that at brawl is not as exciting to watch, I even agree. But people seem to really be adamantly against it being even remotely useable or viable in the sense the character relying on it.

The Evo situation is a different story, mostly around the ruleset they didn't listen to us about.

3 Stock, 5 Min timer, 2/3 Games
Items on medium spawn.
Sudden Death will not decide the outcome of the game. Highest Stock, then lowest percentage after time expires is the winner.
Allowed Items: Banana Peel, Unira, Spring, Mr. Saturn, Green Shell, Smoke Ball, Freezie, Super Scope, Sandbag, Food, Screw Attack, Warp Star, Metal Box, Bunny Hood, Beam Sword, Baseball Bat, Lip's Stick, Star Rod, Hothead, Smash Ball, Ray Gun, Pitfall, Cracker Launcher, Motion-Sensor Bomb, Hammer, Golden Hammer, Bumper, Franklin Badge.
Banned Stages: New Pork City, Hyrule Temple, Warioware, Spear Pillar, Flat Zone 2, Original Mario Brothers, Mushroomy Kingdom, 75m, Summit, Rumble Falls.

This was the ruleset, it was awful. Eventually to the point the fighting game community looked down on smash and got comments from the higher up running evo like, "it's the way the game was meant to be played" according to them.

Heck even back in 2007 attendance for Melee wasn't even that great. and it wasn't good for Brawl either in 09.

Melee got back due to,
Breast Cancer research drive with some players donating up to a 1000 dollars to get melee there.
The Smash Brothers documentary.

both of these, and to an extension project M, got Melee more popular to the point it's getting 900 people at EVO which is fantastic. Smash needed something like this to get kickstarted and back into it.

Smash 4 is turn is more hype, at least for me here because they know what they did wrong in both game and are trying to fix it up. At worst I can't see this game from the gameplay videos being worse than Brawl it'll definitely be better than it unless the balance is really off, which a lot of people think it's closer than it was in Brawl.

Mind you that is an early assessment. But overall with people dying at sub 100 or around there, combos actually being in the game to reward offensive play, (shields apparently being nerfed? need citation on this one people were mentions shields aren't as good as they were in Brawl.)

With the trailer, invitational, return of wired controllers. I'm a lot more hype this time around.

 

[kazrisk]

Now I know your using the wrong word. Anti competitive would be tripping, it adds a random factor that doesn't even promote good gameplay.

Brawl still is a competitive game, it favors a different skill set which doesn't remove any competitive aspects of it gameplay wise. It does favor defense play more than it should, but at the same time things like this look worse and it makes game more desensitized to any kind of defensive of keep away play. For some reason people seem to strongly look down on any sort of defensive play in smash, despite the fact high level players in melee do it as well and melee and a whole has gotten more campy than what it was 5 years ago.

Defensive play doesn't make a game less competitive. Brawl, while still going way too far at that end of the spectrum, was still a competitive game since it still rewarded the more skillful player and actual gameplay. People like Guile, Chun-Li, Blanka play get the lead and hold it in street fighter. It wasn't bingo/slot/a lottery.

What you're referring to is it as a spectator sport. Which Melee is far better to watch and Brawl definitely failed in that regard.

I get that at brawl is not as exciting to watch, I even agree. But people seem to really be adamantly against it being even remotely useable or viable in the sense the character relying on it.

The Evo situation is a different story, mostly around the ruleset they didn't listen to us about.

This was the ruleset, it was awful. Eventually to the point the fighting game community looked down on smash and got comments from the higher up running evo like, "it's the way the game was meant to be played" according to them.

Heck even back in 2007 attendance for Melee wasn't even that great. and it wasn't good for Brawl either in 09.

Melee got back due to,
Breast Cancer research drive with some players donating up to a 1000 dollars to get melee there.
The Smash Brothers documentary.

both of these, and to an extension project M, got Melee more popular to the point it's getting 900 people at EVO which is fantastic. Smash needed something like this to get kickstarted and back into it.

Smash 4 is turn is more hype, at least for me here because they know what they did wrong in both game and are trying to fix it up. At worst I can't see this game from the gameplay videos being worse than Brawl it'll definitely be better than it unless the balance is really off, which a lot of people think it's closer than it was in Brawl.

Mind you that is an early assessment. But overall with people dying at sub 100 or around there, combos actually being in the game to reward offensive play, (shields apparently being nerfed? need citation on this one people were mentions shields aren't as good as they were in Brawl.)

With the trailer, invitational, return of wired controllers. I'm a lot more hype this time around.

Also add a simple thing, Smash 4 will be HD, which from a spectators perspective can be a huge thing, especially for those that rarely watched Brawl and have been watching Melee for years. Smash 4 will be HD, 60fps, beautiful 3D models of the characters, it'll be gorgeous. Add that with all of the other things, no more tripping, faster speeds, less floatiness, all of that will set it up to be an amazing game to watch. Add that to what they are trying to fix, and the balance they are trying to strike with Smash 4, and the game will also be an amazing game to play. I think Smash 4 will be incredible.

 

[Senario]

Now I know your using the wrong word. Anti competitive would be tripping, it adds a random factor that doesn't even promote good gameplay.

Brawl still is a competitive game, it favors a different skill set which doesn't remove any competitive aspects of it gameplay wise. It does favor defense play more than it should, but at the same time things like this look worse and it makes game more desensitized to any kind of defensive of keep away play. For some reason people seem to strongly look down on any sort of defensive play in smash, despite the fact high level players in melee do it as well and melee and a whole has gotten more campy than what it was 5 years ago.

Defensive play doesn't make a game less competitive. Brawl, while still going way too far at that end of the spectrum, was still a competitive game since it still rewarded the more skillful player and actual gameplay. People like Guile, Chun-Li, Blanka play get the lead and hold it in street fighter. It wasn't bingo/slot/a lottery.

What you're referring to is it as a spectator sport. Which Melee is far better to watch and Brawl definitely failed in that regard.

I get that at brawl is not as exciting to watch, I even agree. But people seem to really be adamantly against it being even remotely useable or viable in the sense the character relying on it.

The Evo situation is a different story, mostly around the ruleset they didn't listen to us about.



This was the ruleset, it was awful. Eventually to the point the fighting game community looked down on smash and got comments from the higher up running evo like, "it's the way the game was meant to be played" according to them.

Heck even back in 2007 attendance for Melee wasn't even that great. and it wasn't good for Brawl either in 09.

Melee got back due to,
Breast Cancer research drive with some players donating up to a 1000 dollars to get melee there.
The Smash Brothers documentary.

both of these, and to an extension project M, got Melee more popular to the point it's getting 900 people at EVO which is fantastic. Smash needed something like this to get kickstarted and back into it.

Smash 4 is turn is more hype, at least for me here because they know what they did wrong in both game and are trying to fix it up. At worst I can't see this game from the gameplay videos being worse than Brawl it'll definitely be better than it unless the balance is really off, which a lot of people think it's closer than it was in Brawl.

Mind you that is an early assessment. But overall with people dying at sub 100 or around there, combos actually being in the game to reward offensive play, (shields apparently being nerfed? need citation on this one people were mentions shields aren't as good as they were in Brawl.)

With the trailer, invitational, return of wired controllers. I'm a lot more hype this time around.

And cancelable hitstun is not anti competitive? What about the shoddy balance with some characters falling so far down that they can't be used in any decent capacity?

Also, it is my opinion regardless of whether you agree with it I still don't really consider it competitive in a way I think is interesting. Again, you can make anything competitive if you try hard enough. I made a mario party game with friends competitive last weekend, it was hilarious but definitely not balanced.