User:Mr. Anon/Melee Vs Brawl

Super Smash Bros, as a series has been around for a very long time. SSB 64 was released in 1999, and Melee in 2001. Melee was, essentially the same game as SSB 64, except for new modes, characters, better graphics, etc. However, they had similar physics, such as the ability to L cancel, as well as high hitstun and comboing.

Melee of course was more popular, and for a while was thought to be the final game in the series. And it was, for 5 years, until 2006 when Super Smash Bros Brawl was announced. The game was delayed so much it wasn't released for another 2 years, adding those 2 years to Melee's lifespan.

Melee, with its high speed, combos, physics exploits, and large character roster was considered a very competetive game. Undoubtedly people expected Brawl to be just like it, except with more characters.

When Brawl was finally released, most SSB competetive players were very used to Melee's physics, so it was obviously a surprise when they saw that Brawl had taken away Wavedashing and L Canceling, lowered hitstun, and added Meta Knight, slower speed, and of course, the infamous tripping. Melee competetive players immediately found the game "inferior to Melee" and "less competetive". The following essay is about taking down those beliefs.

Common Arguments from Melee players

Melee has Wavedashing and L canceling

Now how does this make Brawl less competetive? It just means that Brawl has different physics, and thus different strategies. the definition of competetivity is "the ability of the more skilled player to win.". Now how does removing a physics exploit that wasn't even meant to be in the game in the first place, and a method that only speeds up the game make Brawl fit the above definition?

Brawl has slower speed

Again, this does not mean Brawl is inferior. If anything, it makes it easier to control. It is likely that anti-brawl people bring this up to "act like what they are doing takes more skill", which it does not.

Brawl has lower hitstun

If anything, this makes Brawl more competetive. Again, bringing up the definition, how do inescapable combos make a game more competetive? This means that (exaggerating) whoever gets the first hit automatically gets the KO. Do these combos require a great deal of skill? Not really. The Ken combo, for example is really simple and even a beginner can master it.

Melee is more balanced

Now this argument is laughable. Yes, Brawl does have Meta Knight and Snake, who dominate the top tier. But they're only 2 characters. Out of 37. The rest of the cast is somewhat balanced, with the exception of the bottom tier. Now, if you look at Melee, the "top 4" as some call them, Fox, Marth, Shiek, and Falco. Also consider that Melee has only 26 characters. These 4 characters probably the mains of the vast majority of the Smash community. Now let's look at the bottom 5, Ness, Bowser, Mewtwo, Kirby, and Pichu. It's unlikely that any of these characters will ever win a national tourny. In fact, it's unlikely that any character outside the Mele top and high tiers will ever win a national tourny. Now let's look at Brawl's cast. Because of the physics discussed above, it's possible that the next national tourny will be won by a B tier character, or even a C tier.

The most laughable part of all this is that the same people who complain about "Fox losing his position on the tier list" are often the same people who whine about Meta Knight being top tier.

Brawl has tripping

Yes, I'm going to take this argument down. People may laugh at this, but I'll try. Tripping is undeniably irritating to some, as it can break combos and interupt approaches. However, what people often ignore is that many competetive games have an element of luck, as well as an element of skill. For example, in football, weather is unpredictable, much like tripping in Brawl, and it can turn the tide of a match. But does that make football less competetive? Of course not.

Conclusion

I'm not saying that Melee sucks. It is a great game, but it and Brawl are different. They have different physics engines, different characters, and different strategies. In short, it's fine to not like Brawl, just as it's fine to not like Melee. I recommend that people play both, and decide for themselves which one they like more with an open mind. If anybody would like to debate this with me, you can use the talk page.