Smash Wii U 5 Players via Gamepad: Yay or nay?

[Sarki Soliloquy]

So, with the Wii U version of Super Smash Brothers 4, there are many controllers that could be used. As far as I've used it, the Wii U Gamepad is pretty much required to turn it on, access the menu, etc. Otherwise, I suppose you could always switch a Wii Remote, Pro Controller, or Pro Classic Controller in Player 1's place. By the looks of it, this won't happen. But the game is still in development, so you may never know.

I wonder what sort of features the Gamepad would represent. It's a pretty ergonomic controller, which could become awkward to track for a fighting game (I'm yet to try that.) Besides, the off-TV play, there shouldn't be anything included that would present an unfair advantage to the other players.

So if the Wii U can hold up to 4 players, typical of Smash games, what would the addition of a 5th player do? IMO, as long as they can properly balance out 5 player matches and perhaps make certain stages a little bit bigger (Melee sized stages carried over from Brawl come to mind.)

Would this hypothetical 5th player only be enabled through Gamepad usage? Like, would you always have the option to have 5 characters or only reserve it for the Gamepad? It also makes me curious if the same thing could be incorporated into the 3DS version. Of course, you can't just hook up a Gamepad within a player session. Sakurai said how everyone will have their own system and you could probably just have 5 systems in one match.

 

[WIldBam]

um, during matches that have items, I guess the fifth player can be the item summoner, sort of like how in NSMBU the person with the gamepad was able to put in platforms.

Though, what I hope they use the gamepad for is to make the stage builder alot better. I can see the touch screen making things so much easier and speed things up.

 

[Uffe]

Yes. If it was useful, then of course. Otherwise, I wouldn't be bothered if it wasn't.

 

[Chzrm3]

I just think 5 players would be a blast, so if the Wii U can handle that, they should go for it! I wouldn't even worry too much about making sure it's balanced - I think at the point when a match has 5 people in it, balance concerns kinda fly out the window haha.

 

[Niko Mar]

5 players would make for some crazy, wacky fun. Although it's kind of an odd number of players to have at once.

I always thought the gamepad would be fun for a 5th player to mess with the stage and choose where to spawn items. Total troll-mode activate !!!!

Spoiler

obviously they could place cooldown on the items to prevent spam, with longer cooldown on the more powerful stuff (serious-mode activated!)

 

[Crap-Zapper]

There is nothing more pleasure for a friendly group of 5, to play at the same tme. I've seen it on Mario Chase, Luigi's Mansion and "Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing Transform". And it has been so much fun.

Trust me this would be a huge Yay.

 

[lordvaati]

I always considered that if a player 5 was made, they would be playing Master Hand, which in all honesty kinda makes sense if you consider that he was apparently a considered character in Melee(due to leftover game data) and because the way he plyed was radically different from other characters...a perfect fit for a playstyle using the gamepad.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

^
Could be its own GameMode perhaps?

 

[ZelDan]

They could have more than just

I always considered that if a player 5 was made, they would be playing Master Hand, which in all honesty kinda makes sense if you consider that he was apparently a considered character in Melee(due to leftover game data) and because the way he plyed was radically different from other characters...a perfect fit for a playstyle using the gamepad.

Master Hand, Crazy Hand, and then maybe add a few other Wii U pad exclusive characters, just for variety and to give an excuse to add more characters to the game in a creative way.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

EXCLUSIVE MODE/BOSS BRAWL (or whatever it will be called in this installment):

"Have you ever wanted to be the boss of your group? Now you can, with the Gamepad exclusive, you can play as Master Hand, Crazy Hand and more exlusive bosses" (Contains 2-5 Player)

 

[YoshiandToad]

I always considered that if a player 5 was made, they would be playing Master Hand, which in all honesty kinda makes sense if you consider that he was apparently a considered character in Melee(due to leftover game data) and because the way he plyed was radically different from other characters...a perfect fit for a playstyle using the gamepad.

Hmmm...actually this isn't a bad idea at all. A playable Boss mode would be pretty nifty actually using this sort of system. Maybe have a mode where you can have four players on a team Vs. a boss with ridiculous health.

Hell, even if Ridley is still considered boss material by Sakurai, this would give Smash fans a chance to play as him.

I'll admit I wouldn't say no to being able to play either Petey Piranha or Porky either.

As long as it was balanced so the advantage was slightly on the bosses side I feel like this would be an insanely fun mode.

 

[Crap-Zapper]

Hmmm...actually this isn't a bad idea at all. A playable Boss mode would be pretty nifty actually using this sort of system. Maybe have a mode where you can have four players on a team Vs. a boss with ridiculous health.

Hell, even if Ridley is still considered boss material by Sakurai, this would give Smash fans a chance to play as him.

I'll admit I wouldn't say no to being able to play either Petey Piranha or Porky either.

As long as it was balanced so the advantage was slightly on the bosses side I feel like this would be an insanely fun mode.

Maybe we finally can play as Ridley?

 

[YoshiandToad]

Maybe we finally can play as Ridley?

In b4 this becomes a thing and Ridley is replaced by Kraid in boss mode for no reason at all but to upset the Ridley fanbase.

Meta Kraid also finally makes his debut.

 

[Komenja]

More the merrier, I don't see why not.

 

[Radical Bones]

I voted Nay, but that boss idea is actually pretty awesome. Ridley fans would still hate it though.

 

[Hong]

I certainly think such an option could merit the development time to supplement the core experience.

That is to say: I think ultimately such functionality would only be used by a small number of players and a small amount of time for everyone else, but honestly if it's just added as a bonus mode, I think the addition is certainly worth it.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

Considering that there might not be any touch screen usage, the Game Pad owner might just act as a 5th player.

 

[LF2K]

4-player fights are already fun as hell, but adding a 5th person would just make it even crazier! They could abolish rotation mode and get the 5th guy in!

One thing that would be cool is that if there was a mode were the GamePad could be used by a 5th player to spawn and place items. You could totally be a jerk.

 

[Networker1]

Yay of course. Is there any reason not to have this? Plus if Nintendo ever delivers on the promise of 2 gamepads at once, we could have a 6 player Smash-fest.

 

[Mario & Sonic Guy]

People have also brought up that the Ice Climbers might add to the problem, as we're talking as many as 5 Popos and 5 Nanas in a 5-player bout. But I guess it all depends on how much information can be present at the same time.

 

[Lugubrious]

Honestly I think this would be a lot of fun. Whether the gamepad is its own player or an item/hazard/boss-controlling interface, it all sounds good to me.

 

[Morbi]

I don't see why not, it would be something different and fun. I mean Nintendo should really utilize the game-pad more as it was their big gimmick of the generation.

 

[abrinx77]

If they utilize it like they did in the New Super Mario game for WiiU where the gamepad player can mess with platforms and such, but with items instead, I would be all for it. Adding a fifth fighter to the battle with the gamepad though, not so good. Its perfect at four.

 

[Superyoshiom]

Fifth player should be there for controlling the items, etc.

 

[Bilbo Baggins]

I guess I can see Superyoshiom's thing happening, but five players would be more havoc than I can handle. But the fifth player being a GM type thing would be coolio.

 

[SmasherMaster]

Fifth player controls stage hazards

 

[Dr. Krumm]

Oh the things we could do with the gamepad! I really hope Sakurai realizes the opportunity with this thing in Smash, at least for party playing.

Stages: You could have stages which the player with the gamepad can control, imagine the Brinstar Dephs stage from Melee, but a player actively trying to kill everyone by spinning the stage.
Items: The player with the gamepad could spawn items, choose which pokemons are in which pokeballs, etc.
Smashing in general: We could have 5 players, that alone is enough to be awesome.
Gamemodes: We could go nuts with game modes, for example, a mode kinda like time, the twist is that you could play 2 v 2 v 1 and the goal is to kill the solo player as much as possible.
Spectating: You could have one player spectate through the gamepad, zooming in on characters, replaying combos during the match on the gamepad and then go back to the match, etc.
Play on the gamepad: Simple enough, we could play the whole game on the gamepad, thus removing the need for a TV!

The stuff Sakurai could do with this thing! Please Sakurai, use your imagination!

 

[Ryan.]

I voted for yay. If they could make this work I think it would be sweet.

 

[extremechiton]

i say 6 player with 2 gamepads

 

[Vintage Creep]

LOL five players via GamePad makes sense only if the game has split screen. Smash doesn't so why would we need the GamePad to play in 5? There could be six players for all that matters. Even eight, why not.

It's not gonna happen.

A special mode in which the fifth player has a different role than the others though (like controlling certain parts of the stage or items, I don't know), that would make sense, but I don't know if it would work.

 

[pitthekit]

Lol 5th player should be for controlling luma and nana. Lol jk could you imagine what that would do to the meta game?

 

[Rocket Raccoon]

I said Yay. Like everyone else, the Gamepad is the item summoner. Whoop-de-boring doo.

 

[Vintage Creep]

Fifth player controls stage hazards

Then Ridley will finally be playable!

 

[Vann Accessible]

10 Ice Climbers at once? What madness is this?

I'm your huckleberry.

 

[Norm]

I would like to see the game pad used via someone controlling the stage hazards and ****ing with people and controlling the item drops I think that could be fun. You could mess with friends favor certain people **** with people you don't like it would be fun.

 

[soviet prince]

Then Ridley will finally be playable!

off with his head

 

[BigHairyFart]

To those saying 6 players with 2 GamePads: Nintendo has said that adding a second GamePad causes the FPS to drop substantially, which is among the worst possible things to have in a fast-paced fighting game. And that's before we get into having 10-12 Nanas/Popos/Rosalinas/Lumas.

 

[The Lurker]

It'd be interesting having an extra player, but I only see the gamepad as being used for some asymmetric gaming (spawning items, causing hazards)

It may even be treated as a regular controls (haven't seen one in real life so I dont know if this is feasible to play smash on it)

 

[Maha Ishaq]

I just thought people would be so happy for me that they would just say "yay". In fact, that's how I feel about all meetings where 'yea or nay' is asked. It's the group that just wants to say "yay" and have a party vs. the group that's trying to ruin everyone's fun. 5th player should be for controlling yay..