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Smash Bros. Countdown to December 7th - Week 6 - Characters!


TheGoodHoms
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5 hours ago, NinjaMonkey said:

I like how, despite being able to turn off stage hazards, 90% of the stages have already been banned by the "competitive Smash community".

It's unfortunate, but certain common stage features are nonconducive to high-level play. Walk-off stages facilitate edge camping, solid walls allow for infinite combos, ceilings allow you to survive well beyond what's reasonable thanks to ukemi, and many stages are just too big for 1-v-1 matches to not devolve into camping or hiding.

Hazard toggle is definitely a boon though. Many stages are still illegal, sure, but many others are now viable.

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24 minutes ago, Anomalocaris said:

Walk-off stages facilitate edge camping

You do know that "throwing your opponent off the stage and not letting them get back on" is the whole point of the game, right?

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ceilings allow you to survive well beyond what's reasonable thanks to ukemi, and many stages are just too big for 1-v-1 matches to not devolve into camping or hiding.

That applies to only three of them, though (Hyrule Temple, Palutena's Temple and New Pork City).

Edited by NinjaMonkey
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2 minutes ago, NinjaMonkey said:

You do know that throwing your opponent off the stage and not letting them get back on is the whole point of the game, right?

Yeah, all three of them (Hyrule Temple, Palutena's Temple and New Pork City).

Walk-off stages are the ones where you can stand right at the blast zone, grab your foe, and throw them off-stage at 0% damage, such as Bridge of Eldin or the right side of Suzaku Castle. True, your opponent can do the same, but "whoever grabs the other first wins the match" is generally not fun to watch and doesn't let the players really pit their skill levels against each other.

And it's not just those three stages that are too big for competitive 1-v-1. Even a stage like hazardless Norfair is just a little too large for two high-level opponents doing whatever it takes to win.

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On 11/22/2018 at 3:07 AM, NinjaMonkey said:

I like how, despite being able to turn off stage hazards, 90% of the stages have already been banned by the "competitive Smash community".

That aint how it works. Stage lists can't be 40 stages long because there's a stage striking process where both players pick, one or two at a time, which stages to strike before choosing from the remaining options. So it's a matter of narrowing down the best group of obviously good stages so that tournaments don't run for eight to ten hours. Nobody wants to hang out that long. And if your stage set runs more than a dozen stages than you'd need a freaking chart posted on each setup because nobody's going to remember the full list of what's available and which ones have hazards off. So folks building stage lists are not only weighing the pros and cons but weighing how similar stage designs are, how many tri-plat stages should there be, what sorts of variety the asymetrical stages bring, or whether some stages become more appealing with hazards off or on. 

Personally, I don't think it's possible for a stage set that makes everybody happy. You could make arguments for so many of them. That's why I support seasonal stage sets. Four times a year the list changes completely (except obviously keeping Battlefield and FD forms which can stay) so players are tasked to learn a few, slightly different layouts and prepare to be hit suddenly by a counterpicked Castle Siege.

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4 hours ago, Glennstavos said:

Stage lists can't be 40 stages long because there's a stage striking process where both players pick, one or two at a time, which stages to strike before choosing from the remaining options. So it's a matter of narrowing down the best group of obviously good stages so that tournaments don't run for eight to ten hours. Nobody wants to hang out that long. And if your stage set runs more than a dozen stages than you'd need a freaking chart posted on each setup because nobody's going to remember the full list of what's available and which ones have hazards off. So folks building stage lists are not only weighing the pros and cons but weighing how similar stage designs are, how many tri-plat stages should there be, what sorts of variety the asymetrical stages bring, or whether some stages become more appealing with hazards off or on.

Which is why they've banned 90% of them, exactly as I said.

Edited by NinjaMonkey
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Week 5 - Modes!

Extra modes are always a good way to keep players coming back for more when they grow weary of the standard gameplay. Super Smash Bros. has a long history of fun little distractions that give the game longevity. What modes are you looking forward to in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?

Personally I'm really excited for Smashdown and Squad Strike as fun new twists on traditional gameplay. Classic Mode also looks great this time as well, along with the new Spirits Mode which is stickers crossed with event matches for endless possibilities.

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  • TheGoodHoms changed the title to Smash Bros. Countdown to December 7th - Week 5 - Modes!

I'm personally a big fan of the Spirits modes, both of them. The new Adventure mode is definitely huge and will take up a lot of my time (there's speculation that it's even bigger than we originally thought, but I won't elaborate on that), and the Spirits Board is going to be my go-to mode when I'm away from home.

I am definitely looking forward to Classic mode as well, as each fighter has their own predetermined opponents to fight.

As for Smashdown, it'll help me get better at Spirits mode since everyone's forced to use a different fighter every round. Getting better at fighters that I'm not used to playing as will make me more versatile in not just Spirits mode (and SSB overall) but Online as well.

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Modes, huh?

Adventure Mode in Brawl is obviously a big one. I greatly enjoyed it and I'm glad Ultimate is having an Adventure Mode of its own, even if it lacks platformer stages with regular enemies. In an ideal world, Adventure Mode would be a map consisting mostly of standalone spirit, fighter, and boss battles like in Ultimate but also have a few short platformer stages thrown in the mix. Kinda like Cuphead.

Classic Mode has evolved and regressed over the years. 64's was fun and simple but repetitive. I really liked Melee and Brawl's for injecting some randomness into who you fight. Smash 4's was T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E though. TOO much randomness, a wack Intensity Meter, an absolute slog of a final boss, and on the Wii U version you're constantly fighting in chaotic 8-player battles. I'm really looking forward to Ultimate's; not sure how I feel about the return of the Intensity Meter (disliked it even in KIU), but each fighter having their own fixed path with a variable endboss looks like a lot of fun.

All-Star Mode is an interesting idea but it's never been balanced right. Melee's was weird, Brawl's had oddities like the Pokemon battle having six fighters while the final battle is just a wimpy Olimar, and Smash 4's forgot to nerf enemy projectile attacks, meaning that Little Mac and Bowser are negligible threats while Olimar and Villager are unholy run-ending terrors.

Break the Targets was fun in 64 and Melee but lost its luster in Brawl, Board the Platforms was too similar to Break the Targets, Home-Run Contest is small but fun, Event Match is cool but better off amalgamized with Master Orders to create the Spirit Board, 100-Man and Cruel Smash are cool but somewhat repetitive, and none of Wii U's new modes (Target Blast, Smash Tour, Master/Crazy Orders) are particularly good. Smash Run from the 3DS version looks fun but I never got to play it.

I'm looking forward to Squad Strike (assuming it's single matches where each stock is a different character) and Smashdown, and the aforementioned Spirit Board. All the new Ultimate modes actually look like a lot of fun compared to Smash 4's.

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I've seen disappointment mount over the combination of All Star Mode and Endless Smash into "All Star Smash", however, as somebody who grinded out all the trophies in Smash 4 I can tell you that doing a twenty minute mode with all 74 characters would be even more of a slog. I had been wracking my brain for months about how you could make All Star mode fun in Ultimate, so I understand completely the decision to axe it as a major mode. 

The removal of all stadium modes save for Multi-Man Smash (now called Mob Smash) Is less understandable. Break the Targets, that Angry Birds mode from the last game, Master/Crazy Orders, I anticipated those might be gone without any sort of replacement, but no HRC was a blindside. The Sandbag itself still appears as an item, and HRC itself wasn't in need of significant improvements, completely unchanged between Brawl and Smash 4. There also doesn't appear to be an analogue to Brawl's Coin Launcher or Smash 4's Trophy Rush minigames, though it could have simply just missed official mention and I'm not interested in diving into the realm of leaks at this time.

And finally Stage Builder is also absent from official mention. So, even in the wake of World of Light, I feel bittersweet about the modes on offer in Ultimate when I expected to see many more return. That having been said, Ultimate has a very good balance compared to the previous entry's modes. You've got the premier single player campaign, you've got new Versus modes, and a grindable micro economy built around spirits with mobile game elements. Definitely feels like a fully featured play experience catering to both single play and multiplayer. I also love the changes to Classic mode that evoke the lack of random elements in the original game's version. It will be very viable for speedruns, or just challenging at the highest difficulty.

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Spirits mode is easily my favorite new mode and I'm very excited to play through the World of Light. The 3 v 3 mode is also looking to spice up the game play loop considerably when smashing with friends for hours on end. I think I'll want to spend time in classic mode too for that mural. Lots to do this time around!

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I'm not excited at the prospect of doing Classic at a high intensity with just a single life. Even Smash 4's pathetic excuse for a Classic mode gave the player two lives. I won't miss the Homerun Contest or Break the Targets minigames as I only played them a few times before ignoring them completely. I would have liked to have seen Smash Run though, as I quite enjoyed it, and would have like to see it being played on a television, rather than the 3DS's small screen.

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Week 6 - Characters!

Well friends we're on the home stretch now, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate launches this Friday! And what better way to end our little countdown with the one thing we care about the most, the characters we're going to play as! So share what fighters you're most looking forward to playing, veterans you're happy to see return, newcomers you can't wait to get your hands on, and maybe a few characters you want as DLC for good measure.

There are just too many characters I want to play as in Smash Ultimate so I made a big list to share my general thoughts on all the characters. I'll hide it a spoiler tag below, but just please remember it's just my opinion and you don't have to agree with my personal feelings.

Spoiler

 

zOF6g9YrwNcBgRBNxnSX3gcnDXE-Mo0UO3LLZcmlRGuD34evUgO1pYEep4OUlADxCpZs-8M4sGa_4Saye97w1wE7zoGu1Ph5lyyTMZKZ0tnzzxWutJnI9r_DiuYTZQW0qF8FIPzM

S - Characters I’ve absolutely loved in the past or I think look fantastic in Ultimate.

A - Characters I’ve really enjoyed from previous titles or I’m very interested in trying out.

B - Characters I’ve liked playing as before or am expecting to be fun additions.

C - Characters I think are fine, but not necessarily my favorites in the roster.

D - Characters I think are just ok, I’ll give them a fair shot, but I’m not expecting much.

E - Characters I’m not particularly fond of and don’t expect to be playing much.

F - Characters I actively dislike and am not looking forward to fighting against.

In terms of DLC fighters the gates are wide open as to who could be playable, personally I'm holding out for Elma from Xenoblade Chronicles X, Magnus from Kid Icarus Uprising, and Bandanna Dee from Kirby's Return to Dreamland.

Edited by TheGoodHoms
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On ‎26‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 8:04 PM, Glennstavos said:

There also doesn't appear to be an analogue to Brawl's Coin Launcher or Smash 4's Trophy Rush minigames

Since spirits have replaced trophies, the analogue is obviously the Spirit Board.

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but no HRC was a blindside. The Sandbag itself still appears as an item, and HRC itself wasn't in need of significant improvements, completely unchanged between Brawl and Smash 4.

Nobody plays the Home Run Contest after getting all the unlocks anyway, so I don't see how it's such a big deal. When was the last time you woke up and said to yourself "I'm going to play Smash Bros. and do nothing but play the Home Run Contest all day"?

Also

Spoiler

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As for DLC, Phoenix Wright, Dixie Kong and Impa are my most wanted characters.

Edited by NinjaMonkey
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Characters...

I didn't really play Smash 64 enough to have a main, but once Melee rolled around I picked up Mr. Game & Watch. He was my exclusive main there.

Going into Brawl I wasn't sure about who I'd play, but then during that time period when the game was out in Japan but nowhere else, somebody uploaded a video of Wario in the Wi-Fi waiting room; the moment I saw him eat his own motorcycle, I knew I had a new main. Sure enough, Wario became my co-main alongside G&W, but I also started to play Random a lot; through that, I wound up picking up a few subs such as Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, Snake, ect.

In Smash 4, Yoshi and newcomer Robin got promoted up to par with G&W and Wario, and I actually clicked with Dr. Mario in a way I didn't with regular Mario. Those five are my current best, but I've gotten pretty skilled with everyone.

Now with Ultimate on the horizon, I'm most looking forward to the reptile bros, Ridley and K. Rool. Once Piranha Plant comes out I'm totally maining it too. How can I not?

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Oh what a coincidence, I made this tier list last week.

Honestly, the average veteran character looks as interesting as the average newcomer for this Smash game. I do have an eye for the minute differences in animation. Take Yoshi for instance, he is so much more limber in Ultimate. In Smash 4 they redesigned Yoshi's idle stance and some attacks to exemplify moving away from the outdated Yoshi's Island design. However, some moves like U-Air continued to look goofy as Yoshi still had to flip his body a full rotation to smack somebody above him with the tail. Now he does so without a flip, and that's a nice change since they're really wracking their brain to figure out how a creature like Yoshi would perform these moves naturally.

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