SmashWiki:Neutral tone guide

This proposed policy or guideline has been repealed by the community, and so is no longer in effect. It remains for archival purposes. The reason for repealment can be summarized thusly: Replaced with SmashWiki:Neutral Point of View

Writing with an encyclopedic tone can be a difficult task, especially when it comes to discussing controversial subjects such as characters' strengths and weaknesses. Nevertheless, SmashWiki is an encyclopedia and not a strategy guide. It is important to consider the connotations of mainspace content and to work towards writing in a neutral tone as much as possible.

General notes

Many words and phrases inherently skew towards representing a certain opinion as opposed to representing facts more neutrally. The following are a good sample of words to avoid when possible:

best

fantastic

viable

worst

awful

unfortunately

sadly

subpar

failing

gimmicky

abysmal

Articles in need of tone improvement may be tagged with {{tone}}.

Selected examples

The following examples are from the page histories of SSB4 character pages, and are presented alongside possible improvements that attempt to convey information in a more neutral way where appropriate.

Source page	Example of non-encyclopedic tone	Possible improvement
Bowser (SSB4)	To further compound this, Bowser has possibly the worst set of rolls in the game; while most fighters have rolls that excel in speed/distance to make up for the lack of the other, Bowser has no such advantage, having rolls that travel minimal distance without having low endlag or a short duration to compensate.	Bowser's rolls are less useful than those of other characters, as they give Bowser less distance across the ground than other characters, without having lower endlag or a shorter duration to compensate.
Dr. Mario (SSB4)	Dr. Mario's more glaring faults include his slow speed for a character of his size and power, his sub-par range and, when not taking Super Jump and Soaring Tornado into account, a sub-par recovery game despite being given the ability to wall jump and Dr. Tornado enabling him to recover a slight amount of vertical distance.	Dr. Mario's weaknesses include having slow speed for a character of his size and power, poor range and, without customs, poor horizontal and vertical recovery.
Rosalina & Luma (SSB4)	Despite these subsequent nerfs, Rosalina is still widely considered to be one the best fighters in the game.	Despite being nerfed by balance patches, Rosalina players have continued to have notable successes in tournament play.
Bowser Jr. (SSB4)	His forward aerial and back aerial are both effective, but their startup is a little slow. Neutral aerial is fantastic, as it covers both sides.	His forward aerial and back aerial are useful moves, albeit limited by their startup time. Bowser Jr.'s neutral aerial is useful for covering both sides of him in the air.
Yoshi (SSB4)	Yoshi has become one of the best characters in SSB4's metagame and despite some nerfs in updates has remained a very viable character.	Yoshi has had moderate tournament success, although few of the current metagame's top players are Yoshi mains.
Donkey Kong (SSB4)	These noticeable changes have made some see him as still being slightly subpar.	[remove entirely]
Sheik (SSB4)	Sheik is a dominant force in the metagame with many early high-placing tournament results on the national and international level, and she's regarded by many as the best character in the game.	Sheik is a dominant force in the metagame with many high-placing tournament results on the national and international level, moreso than the rest of the game's roster.
Ganondorf (SSB4)	Unfortunately, despite alleviation of Ganondorf's significant issues that he had in Brawl (notably the weakening in other character's projectile camping abilities, the removal of chain grabbing and the new edge-stealing mechanic, but still has one of the worst recoveries), he still possesses most of the major flaws he had from that game, such as his subpar range and a small shield for a character of his size, and poor physics and mobility that is drastically slower than even most of the other heavyweights (having the third lowest dashing speed and third lowest air speed, moderately high fast falling speed, and jumps and double jumps that give negligible height).	While several of Ganondorf's significant drawbacks that he had in Brawl were toned down or removed, such as the removal of chain-grabbing and edge-guarding, other weaknesses of Ganondorf's major flaws remain. These include the short range of his attacks, a small shield for a character of his size, and poor mobility even compared to other heavyweight characters such as Bowser.
Toon Link (SSB4)	Sadly, most of his aerials have a lot of ending lag, so they don't chain very well into each others.	Most of Toon Link's aerials have ending lag long enough that he is unable to chain aerial combos well.
Samus (SSB4)	Due to this, as well as a severe lack of representation, Samus is considered by some to be one of the worst characters in the game, despite having some dedicated players such as ESAM, who himself does not believe Samus to be among the game's bottom 10 characters.	Samus has poor representation in high-level tournament results.
Meta Knight (SSB4)	Because of the advantages that he possessed, Super Smash Bros. 4 toned down nearly all of his superior traits, aside from his insane speed.	Meta Knight's characteristics that led to his dominance in Brawl have been toned down to re-balance him relative to other characters.
King Dedede (SSB4)	[...]cannot keep up with a majority of the cast as a result of his poor movement speed. [...] Because of this, Dedede is considered by some to be among the worst characters in the game, which is further expressed with customs on. Furthermore, he suffers from a lack of representation, with his few players, such as Omega Tyrant either dropping him in favor of a better character or having more consistent fighters to choose from.	King Dedede's slower movement speed and poor frame data have left him with little representation in high-level competitive play.
Falco (SSB4)	As both of these are disadvantages he cannot afford to endure at high-level play due to his fast falling speed and the ease in which he can be comboed by other characters, Falco is considered much less viable than he has ever been in the past.	Falco's nerfs give him less advantageous matchups against the rest of the playable cast than he had in Melee and Brawl.
Jigglypuff (SSB4)	Overall, Jigglypuff is better than in Brawl, but not as potent as it was in 64, and certainly not as in Melee.	While Jigglypuff is buffed relative to its bottom-tier status in Brawl, it has not achieved the high-level success of its appearances in SSB64 and Melee.
Mewtwo (SSB4)	Mewtwo is widely considered to be the worst playable Pokémon in the game, usurping Charizard of the title due to the latter's significant buffs, and is argued by some to be among the game's worst characters. However, some Smashers such as Abadango believe Mewtwo to be a decent character closer to mid-tier.	[remove entirely]
Charizard (SSB4)	As a result of Charizard's major flaws such as its laggy, punishable attacks, ironically poor aerial mobility, and poor vertical recovery (especially if customs are off), it has little to no tournament representation, and was considered one of the poorest characters in the game in early SSB4 competitive play.	Charizard's laggy attacks, poor aerial mobility and limited recovery have held it back in early SSB4 competitive play.
Lucario (SSB4)	The power and recovery buffs along with the speed and comboing nerfs Lucario has received leave debate for whether it is a better character or not.	The power and recovery buffs along with the speed and comboing nerfs Lucario has received make it inconclusive where it stands relative to its appearance in Brawl.
Captain Falcon (SSB4)	Overall, Captain Falcon has achieved notable tournament success, and is considered by the competitive community to be a strong choice for tournament play. While Falcon pales slightly in comparison to perceived top-tier characters such as Sheik and Rosalina & Luma, he has a dedicated playerbase that brings his usage in line with many characters said to be better than he is.	Overall, Captain Falcon has achieved notable tournament success, albeit not to the extent of characters such as Sheik and Rosalina & Luma.
Ness (SSB4)	Overall, Ness is significantly better than he ever was in previous Super Smash Bros. games and he has also seen very strong tournament results as a result of his vast improvement.	Overall, Ness has seen much more success in tournaments than in previous Super Smash Bros. games.
Ike (SSB4)	Overall, Ike has become noticeably better since his appearance in Brawl. Despite the nerfs to his range, power, and all but one of his special moves (Counter), the significant improvements to both his combo game and recovery options, lessened lag (start-up, ending and landing) to most of his attacks, his adaptation to the general changes of SSB4, and numerous buffs via updates 1.0.4 and 1.0.8 all strongly mitigate his nerfs. This has lead professionals such as ZeRo to believe that he is either the best mid-tier character or the worst high-tier character among the cast, which is a considerable improvement from his status of being the among best of the low-tier characters in Brawl and the initial release of SSB4.	Overall, Ike has been buffed since his appearance in Brawl. Despite the nerfs to his range, power, and all but one of his special moves (Counter), the significant improvements to both his combo game and recovery options, lessened lag (start-up, ending and landing) to most of his attacks, his adaptation to the general changes of SSB4, and numerous buffs via updates 1.0.4 and 1.0.8 all strongly mitigate his nerfs.
Robin (SSB4)	He possesses the slowest running speed in the game, has horrible grab range with highly punishable endlag, and lacks the melee range and movement speed his fellow swordsmen have.	He possesses the slowest running speed in the game, has a small grab range with noticeable endlag, and lacks the melee range and movement speed his fellow swordsmen have.
Lucina (SSB4)	Although considered one of the worst characters in early SSB4 competitive play, Lucina has been steadily improved since version 1.0.6, as she has received a multitude of buffs in subsequent patches, some of which are shared with Marth. As these buffs further improve her damage output by decreasing the ending lag of several combo-oriented moves and increasing the damage and knockback of many of her standard attacks, her punishes are slightly stronger than they were initially. However, they do not bring her or Marth close to the level of strength that Marth had in Melee or in Brawl, as they do not address Lucina's disadvantages with her neutral game.	Although one of the least represented characters in early SSB4 competitive play, Lucina has received a multitude of buffs in subsequent patches, some of which are shared with Marth. As these buffs further improve her damage output by decreasing the ending lag of several combo-oriented moves and increasing the damage and knockback of many of her standard attacks, her punishes are slightly stronger than they were initially. However, these buffs still leave Lucina with vulnerabilities in her neutral game.
Mr. Game & Watch (SSB4)	Mr. Game & Watch was overall nerfed in his transition to SSB4, with the buffs he received failing to compensate for the more drastic nerfs to his important abilities.	Mr. Game & Watch was overall nerfed in his transition to SSB4, with nerfs to several of his important moves and only minor buffs to other parts of his moveset.
Palutena (SSB4)	She is also prone to be juggled due to her below-average falling speed and high gravity as her anti-juggling options are downright bad outside Warp.	She is also prone to being juggled due to her below-average falling speed and high gravity as she possesses few anti-juggling options outside of Warp.
Dark Pit (SSB4)	Unfortunately, because Silver Bow's projectile doesn't do noticeable knockback when fully charged either way, it makes it an inferior projectile when compared to Pit's version if a player solely uses it to camp or pester opponents.	However, because Silver Bow's projectile causes little knockback even when fully charged, it is less useful compared to Pit's version in the context of camping or pestering opponents at a distance.
Wario (SSB4)	His Chomp is one of the best command grabs in the game, having deceptively long range and almost no startup or ending lag.	His Chomp is a highly useful command grab, having deceptively long range and minimal startup and ending lag.
Olimar (SSB4)	When used correctly, the Pikmin can easily rack up ludicrous amounts of damage in short periods of time - he can stop approaches with Pikmin Throw, and has a hugely disjointed range in his grab, as Pikmin can run out to grab opponents at any time.	When used correctly, the Pikmin can easily rack up high amounts of damage in short periods of time. Olimar can also stop approaches with Pikmin Throw, and has a long-ranged disjointed grab, as Pikmin can run out to grab opponents at any time.
Villager (SSB4)	Unfortunately, Villager's ability to set up edgeguards in the first place is hampered by his subpar grab. Although his net has relatively long range, it comes out slowly and is very punishable if missed.	On the other hand, Villager's ability to set up edgeguards in the first place is hampered by his grab. Although his net has relatively long range, it comes out slowly and its endlag leaves him vulnerable to punishment if missed.
Little Mac (SSB4)	His second flaw is his horridly pathetic air game: Little Mac's aerials are all extraordinarily weak with wretchedly short reach and no KO potential (even being told in his release trailer by Doc Louis that he "ain't no air fighter", and Sakurai later stating such on Miiverse), making him easy to juggle as he has no options to protect himself while in the air.	His second flaw is his deliberately underpowered air game: Little Mac's aerials are all quite weak with short reach and no KO potential (even being told in his release trailer by Doc Louis that he "ain't no air fighter", and Sakurai later stating such on Miiverse), making him easy to juggle as he has no options to protect himself while in the air.
Wii Fit Trainer (SSB4)	Her physical attacks all involve her posing in various Yoga poses that appear in Wii Fit-- Due to this, Wii Fit Trainer's moveset is a confusing one if a player does not use her frequently as they have unusual hitboxes, though this makes her a very versatile character who can easily surprise opponents with her many different finishing options.	Her physical attacks all involve her posing in various yoga poses that appear in Wii Fit.
Shulk (SSB4)	His biggest flaw is his sluggish moveset: Shulk has among the worst frame data in the game, with most of his attacks not starting up until only after a few frames pass along with high endlag on some, which makes matchups against fast characters with quick attacks such as Sonic difficult to fend off.	His biggest flaw is the laggy nature of much of his moveset. Many of Shulk's moves take several frames of start up and also have high endlag, which makes matchups against fast characters with quick attacks such as Sonic difficult.
Mega Man (SSB4)	With an arsenal of weapons that surpasses even Link's, Mega Man dives into Smash fully prepared for many situations. Like many newcomers in Smash 4, he possesses a somewhat gimmicky moveset in the form of having a massive amount of projectiles; this, however, does not hinder him, and in fact gives him arguably one of the most reliable combo abilities in the game.	As in his home series, Mega Man's moveset relies heavily on various projectiles.
Mii Brawler (SSB4)	The Brawler's vertical recovery is also abysmal, (though moves such as Burning Dropkick make their horizontal recovery slightly better) with none of their special moves providing much upward distance and most of them being easy to gimp. Finally, with the exception of Shot Put, the Mii Brawler lacks any type of projectile, giving it a rather miserable approaching game.	The Brawler's vertical recovery is also poor, with none of their special moves providing much upward distance and most of them being easy to gimp. Finally, with the exception of Shot Put, the Mii Brawler lacks any type of projectile, making approaching difficult.