firo
Smash Ace
I've been thinking a bit about this game and how it's played, and it makes me wonder about why some characters haven't seen as much success as I think they deserve.
It's my belief that this game can reasonably be played at a much higher technical level than what we currently see, and as a result some characters will begin to be much more viable. I've been playing a bit more melee than I have in the past, and the average competitive melee player is much more technical than the average 64 player. I think at least three characters would benefit the most from highly technical play:
Fox: Fox might be the most technical character in the game. With a hit on an opposing character's shield, fox should be getting a high percentage combo, or a kill, almost every time. Lasers should be able to deter most approaches. His speed should get him through almost all other characters' moves.
Link: At extremely high levels, link should be a powerhouse. Perfect platform jumps, ledge cancels, bombs, boomerangs, etc. should shut other characters down. Link has enough options to completely lock his opponent down if he executes well enough.
Yoshi: More parrys, faster DJCs. Almost every single non multi-hit move should be parried by a highly technical player.
Do I think a human can get to these levels? Yes, fairly reasonably, if we use melee or some other fighting games as a comparison. Right now, pikachu is at the top of the tier lists, but at a higher technical level of play I don't see why this shouldn't be fox, with link, yoshi, falcon right up there. If this game ever dies out, I don't know if I'm comfortable saying that pikachu and kirby were indisputably the best characters in the game.
If we accept the premise that we can play much more technically, why haven't we seen it? I think there's two reasons:
1. Lack of players: This is a huge barrier, as with more players come different play styles, more tournaments, more money involved, and more motivation to practice. Our community is small and has rallied behind characters that have proven success. Only having a few tournaments a year encourages players to use safe characters. Besides Isai at apex a few years ago, I can't remember the last time I saw a link player at a tournament. I don't think our current view of the tier list should be responsible for this.
2. Controllers: I recently got my hands on a like-new n64 controller that a relative was able to get for me during a vacation to Japan. The difference it makes is very significant. When melee players talk about their bad controllers, the sticks they refuse to play with are usually on par with the best n64 controllers we see at tournaments. Better controllers means better execution, and less mistakes. Imagine how people would play if we could use a new control stick at each tournament. I think the level of play would improve very significantly. Does this mean we should make an effort to move away from the n64 controller? I don't know.
3. Netplay (thanks to Mr. Bushido): Playing online with delay and lag impact how we play our characters. The top characters definitely received more attention in the early days of netplay, especially with people playing with 5+ frames regularly.
If we can solve these problems, I really believe that the most technical characters should define the ssb64 metagame.
I'm curious about what people think about this.
It's my belief that this game can reasonably be played at a much higher technical level than what we currently see, and as a result some characters will begin to be much more viable. I've been playing a bit more melee than I have in the past, and the average competitive melee player is much more technical than the average 64 player. I think at least three characters would benefit the most from highly technical play:
Fox: Fox might be the most technical character in the game. With a hit on an opposing character's shield, fox should be getting a high percentage combo, or a kill, almost every time. Lasers should be able to deter most approaches. His speed should get him through almost all other characters' moves.
Link: At extremely high levels, link should be a powerhouse. Perfect platform jumps, ledge cancels, bombs, boomerangs, etc. should shut other characters down. Link has enough options to completely lock his opponent down if he executes well enough.
Yoshi: More parrys, faster DJCs. Almost every single non multi-hit move should be parried by a highly technical player.
Do I think a human can get to these levels? Yes, fairly reasonably, if we use melee or some other fighting games as a comparison. Right now, pikachu is at the top of the tier lists, but at a higher technical level of play I don't see why this shouldn't be fox, with link, yoshi, falcon right up there. If this game ever dies out, I don't know if I'm comfortable saying that pikachu and kirby were indisputably the best characters in the game.
If we accept the premise that we can play much more technically, why haven't we seen it? I think there's two reasons:
1. Lack of players: This is a huge barrier, as with more players come different play styles, more tournaments, more money involved, and more motivation to practice. Our community is small and has rallied behind characters that have proven success. Only having a few tournaments a year encourages players to use safe characters. Besides Isai at apex a few years ago, I can't remember the last time I saw a link player at a tournament. I don't think our current view of the tier list should be responsible for this.
2. Controllers: I recently got my hands on a like-new n64 controller that a relative was able to get for me during a vacation to Japan. The difference it makes is very significant. When melee players talk about their bad controllers, the sticks they refuse to play with are usually on par with the best n64 controllers we see at tournaments. Better controllers means better execution, and less mistakes. Imagine how people would play if we could use a new control stick at each tournament. I think the level of play would improve very significantly. Does this mean we should make an effort to move away from the n64 controller? I don't know.
3. Netplay (thanks to Mr. Bushido): Playing online with delay and lag impact how we play our characters. The top characters definitely received more attention in the early days of netplay, especially with people playing with 5+ frames regularly.
If we can solve these problems, I really believe that the most technical characters should define the ssb64 metagame.
I'm curious about what people think about this.
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