User:Monsieur Crow/Arguments for and against wobbling

This is an essay, a page containing the advice or opinions of one or more SmashWiki contributors. You may heed it or not, at your discretion.

Wobbling has been controversial from the start, and I don't think the controversy is going to end any time soon, especially with tournaments going back and forth on whether to ban the technique and differing regions having differing legalities, a la all those attempts to ban Meta Knight way back in 2010. This page documents several arguments I've heard both supporting and opposing a ban on wobbling, mostly for my own convenience, but also to let everyone know what sorts of arguments are floating around there.

I myself have no strong opinions either way on wobbling, as I don't play Melee at a high enough level to particularly care and I don't particularly enjoy watching competitive Smash.

If you think there's another argument here that I neglected to include, feel free to drop a line on my talkpage.

Arguments against a ban on wobbling

Wobbling is not unique in Melee's metagame

Performed properly, wobbling guarantees a KO on all opponents, outside of another pair of Ice Climbers. A number of other techniques in Melee, however, can arguably achieve the same feat, such as Marth's Ken Combo, Fox's shinespike, Falco's shine into dair, Sheik's downthrow chain, etc. to varying degrees of success. Banning wobbling simply because it guarantees a KO is an unnecessarily asinine gesture, owing to these other techniques that would still be considered fair game; in particular, Sheik's downthrow chain was considered so powerful in the early Melee metagame that there were some debates over whether to ban the technique or the character, both of which would arguably be considered excessive in today's metagame.

Wobbling is not unique to Melee

Infinite combos have existed for many years prior to Melee, and many games since have featured them; even in Smash itself, Smash 64 arguably features the most punishing combo game in the series, with all characters outside of Samus having at least one zero-to-death combo. However, none of these games have had their infinite combos banned, and on the contrary, some famous fighting games, such as Marvel vs. Capcom 2, notably have metagames that revolve around characters and their ability to perform infinite to near-infinite combos whether by themselves or with assistance. As such, wobbling can be compared to these infinites, which are seldom, if ever, banned.

Wobbling can be played around

The Ice Climbers by themselves have a below-average grab range, and wobbling itself can only be performed if both Ice Climbers are next to one another; as a result, consistently falling victim to wobbling reflects poor matchup knowledge, whether by playing unsafe and getting punished via grabs, being unable to separate the Ice Climbers, or similar lapses in understanding. As a result, wobbling is not as easy to perform as proponents of a ban claim, and banning wobbling unfairly rewards players who do not understand the Ice Climbers matchup for their respective main.

Wobbling is a part of the Ice Climber's metagame

All characters, regardless of tier standing, should be allowed to use whatever tools they have at their disposal to compete, provided that they do not outright break the game (such as the case of the freeze glitch) or break the rules of a match (such as the case of the Luigi ladder). As a result, a number of different characters from the bottom of the tier list to the top have access to a number of unique options to improve their competitive viability; Mewtwo, for instance, can "pull" opponents through ledges, Ness has access to the yo-yo glitch, and characters like Luigi and Marth rely heavily on wavedashing. All of these characters, however, are allowed to boost their metagames with these techniques, and as a result, a similar stipulation should be allowed for the Ice Climbers and wobbling.

Wobbling improves Melee's metagame / diversity

Melee is somewhat infamous for strongly favouring its top tier of characters, even compared to other games in the genre, and the current metagame arguably centralises around Fox, Marth, Falco, and a number of other characters (which characters is a big debate for another time). As wobbling can allow for the Ice Climbers to arguably compete alongside these other top tiered characters, this can allow for a deeper metagame as other characters learn to play around wobbling; furthermore, wobbling has allowed for upsets to occur in tournaments, such as the case of Evo 2013, where Wobbles himself managed a second-place finish after upsetting numerous other top professionals in a particularly exciting storyline.

Arguments for a ban on wobbling

Wobbling is too powerful of a technique

While wobbling isn't unique among being a technique that can guarantee a KO on any character, all of these other techniques are not infallible and can be defeated, whether by using proper DI, having a high execution barrier, requiring specific setups, significant commitment, etc. Wobbling, however, has next-to-no barrier to entry, is arguably too easy to consistently perform for its effects, and is completely unbeatable when performed. Owing to the lack of any counterplay when it begins, a ban on wobbling is justified due to its sheer power compared to other techs.

Wobbling / Melee cannot be compared other fighting games

While other fighting games can feature infinites or similar combos, and, indeed, some games centralise around them, Melee is not centralised around infinite combos. Furthermore, while intricate combos that can guarantee death or at least deal serious damage to opponents do exist in other fighting games, they require significant skill to perform, far beyond what wobbling arguably requires. Exceptions to this do exist, but in many cases, easy-to-perform infinites are only seen in games with stagnant or dormant metagames, such as Geese Howard in SNK vs. Capcom - SVC Chaos or Hilda in Soulcalibur IV, making such comparisons to Melee moot.

Banning wobbling does not render the Ice Climbers unusable

The Ice Climbers have a number of tools outside of wobbling that arguably put them in the high-mid to mid tier. Outside of disjointed hitboxes, decent combo ability, and the high ceiling of desyncing, the Ice Climbers have a number of other options to punish off a grab, such as their hand-off throws, and tying in with previous points, the technical skill required for these throws compared to wobbling makes them "fairer" in a game. Fly Amanita also performed extremely well as an Ice Climbers main without relying on wobbling, and as a result, there is still theoretically the potential for the Ice Climbers to make an impact at the top level of play.

Wobbling harms Melee's image as a fighter

As wobbling is essentially foregone conclusion when it begins, doesn't feature a particularly impressive show of technical skill, and consists of the same actions performed over and over, wobbling is simply uninteresting to watch for spectators. As Melee requires a stronger grassroots presence than other fighters due to Nintendo's varying stances on it (ranging from general disinterest to active hostility), this means that Melee tournaments must heavily rely upon sponsorships in streams to make money; matches featuring wobbling, however, are unlikely to invest viewers who may choose to turn away from events featuring wobbling, which could have an impact on whether or not sponsors choose to fund tournaments or provide similar amenities for future Melee events.

Wobbling harms Melee's future

Tying in with the previous section, wobbling can be notoriously frustrating for players victimised by it, both from novices who have only recently taken up the game to top professionals who have played the game for literal decades. While this may seem to be a hyperbolic statement, allowing Ice Climbers players access to wobbling could impact the number of players willing to take up or even drop Melee.