Official Custom Moveset Project
The Official Custom Moveset Project was a project based in SmashBoards to create preset custom moveset combinations for every character in Super Smash Bros. 4, in an effort to make the use of custom moves logistically viable in tournaments. The project was led by Amazing Ampharos, and started in 2014, then ended in 2015. In addition to a number of local and regional tournaments, EVO 2015 used the project's list of ideal custom moveset combinations as part of their ruleset while custom moves were permitted.
Following the outcome of EVO 2015, it was then decided by the majority of tournament organizers to place a general ban on custom moves entirely, starting with majors such as Low Tier City 3 and Smash Factor 4, and have not appeared as part of a ruleset in every major tournament since then, which includes EVO 2016. Reasons for this are far and wide, but the general consensus was that custom moves in any form can ruin the competitive integrity of the game. However, not all notable tournaments have prohibited the use of custom movesets. Glitch and Glitch 2 allowed the use of them in a separate side event. A few regions, such as the Australian scene, have allowed the use of custom movesets in varying degrees, usually only for Miis in most cases. (Arguments for this pertain to their custom moves being available from the start and being available for use without the "Custom Equipment" option turned on in the character selection screen, as well as the Miis unique design as a very customize-able character).
Format
Each character has ten preset custom moveset combinations available in addition to the default combination (except Mii Fighters, who additionally have more movesets available), transferred from a master 3DS with every custom unlocked, all without equipment and named by number of the combination's neutral special, side special, up special, and down special, respectively. The combinations were chosen with input from each character's playerbase, to be the 10 most competitively-viable move combinations possible, and thus be the moveset combinations the vast majority of players would use if given their own free reign to select. These combinations can be selected immediately via the character select screen on each Wii U that has been set up to accommodate, which not only eliminates the time that would be spent by players putting their custom moveset together manually, but also ensures players won't run into issues with their preferred custom moves not being available on a Wii U setup. Smaller tournaments may still choose to allow players to replace the last two custom moveset combinations with their own preference, which is explained further below.
Previous formats
Before the 1.0.8 update, characters only had eight custom moveset combinations, with the two empty slots always being reserved for players' preferred combinations; this was changed in order to accommodate EVO 2015 and their stance against allowing players the ability to add their own combinations. In addition, two of a character's combinations were always all of the second available options and all of the third available options; however, these combinations were no longer required and the majority removed in the update as few were considered viable sets.
Controversy
Starting early 2015, after the approval of the community, tournaments would start to allow custom movesets. However, after some time passed, competitive players started to express their distaste in the custom environment, due to the surprising unbalance they would cause to the game from a competitive standpoint, and the fact customs had to be unlocked in order for tournaments to be ran as such, which is further compounded by the fact they take quite a long time to completely unlock. After the outcome of several tournaments, in May 2015, CEO 2015 was announced to have a lack of custom movesets, including the Miis.
Custom movesets already had a major faction in the community against them by EVO 2015. This tournament was not only affected greatly by the large 1.0.8 update, but is also considered to be the one that ended the custom environment competitively due to some combinations of moves considered to be heavily unbalanced, as they would either fail to improve a good deal of characters that were poorly regarded (such as Zelda, Jigglypuff and King Dedede), make characters annoyingly difficult to deal with (like Sonic, Donkey Kong, Palutena and, most notably, Villager), or actually benefit outstandingly regarded characters (prime examples being Diddy Kong and Sheik). Furthermore, Mewtwo, a character available as downloadable content, lacked custom moves, a rule that was also shared with fellow DLC characters Lucas, Roy and Ryu (though due to the latter three being recently introduced to the metagame, they were banned from the tournament anyway).
List of available combinations
Character | Custom sets available | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bayonetta | N/A | ||||
Bowser | 1211 | 1311 | 3211 | 3311 | 1212 |
1213 | 1312 | 1313 | 2211 | 2311 | |
Bowser Jr. | 1113 | 1121 | 1123 | 1211 | 1213 |
1313 | 3111 | 3113 | 3213 | 1112 | |
Captain Falcon | 2111 | 2112 | 2113 | 2121 | 2122 |
2123 | 2221 | 2211 | 2133 | 3111 | |
Charizard | 1311 | 1313 | 1331 | 1333 | 1113 |
1211 | 1213 | 3311 | 2311 | 1321 | |
Cloud | N/A | ||||
Corrin | N/A | ||||
Dark Pit | 3111 | 3112 | 1113 | 2113 | 3113 |
2111 | 2112 | 1112 | 3311 | 3121 | |
Diddy Kong | 1121 | 1123 | 1113 | 1131 | 1133 |
1211 | 3111 | 1213 | 1112 | 3121 | |
Donkey Kong | 3233 | 3231 | 3232 | 1233 | 1231 |
1232 | 2233 | 2231 | 2232 | 1333 | |
Dr. Mario | 2312 | 2332 | 2212 | 2232 | 2211 |
1311 | 1332 | 1212 | 1211 | 2322 | |
Duck Hunt | 3121 | 3123 | 3122 | 1121 | 1123 |
3132 | 1132 | 3111 | 3221 | 3323 | |
Falco | 1123 | 1121 | 1133 | 1131 | 3123 |
3121 | 3133 | 3131 | 2123 | 2133 | |
Fox | 2132 | 2332 | 3132 | 2122 | 2322 |
3322 | 1131 | 1331 | 2131 | 3131 | |
Ganondorf | 2121 | 2122 | 2321 | 2322 | 2132 |
2332 | 2222 | 3122 | 3121 | 3112 | |
Greninja | 1112 | 3112 | 3111 | 1312 | 1311 |
3312 | 3311 | 3113 | 2112 | 2111 | |
Ike | 2222 | 2122 | 2212 | 2232 | 3222 |
3122 | 3212 | 3232 | 2111 | 3111 | |
Jigglypuff | 1121 | 1122 | 1321 | 1322 | 2121 |
2122 | 2321 | 2322 | 3121 | 1221 | |
King Dedede | 3112 | 3122 | 3312 | 3322 | 1122 |
1312 | 1322 | 2112 | 2122 | 2312 | |
Kirby | 3231 | 3232 | 3233 | 1231 | 1131 |
3133 | 3131 | 2231 | 3221 | 3331 | |
Link | 1211 | 1213 | 2211 | 2213 | 1311 |
1313 | 2311 | 2313 | 1231 | 3211 | |
Little Mac | 2111 | 2113 | 2112 | 2211 | 2213 |
2212 | 2311 | 2313 | 2312 | 2121 | |
Lucario | 2111 | 3111 | 1112 | 2112 | 3112 |
1211 | 2211 | 1121 | 3121 | 1311 | |
Lucas | N/A | ||||
Lucina | 3113 | 3123 | 1123 | 3133 | 1133 |
3121 | 1121 | 3111 | 1131 | 3131 | |
Luigi | 1311 | 1211 | 3311 | 3211 | 3111 |
1312 | 3312 | 3212 | 2311 | 3231 | |
Mario | 2312 | 2332 | 2212 | 2232 | 1312 |
1313 | 1332 | 1212 | 1213 | 2213 | |
Marth | 3113 | 3123 | 1123 | 3133 | 1133 |
3121 | 1121 | 3111 | 1131 | 3131 | |
Mega Man | 1313 | 1312 | 1311 | 1323 | 1322 |
1112 | 1122 | 3323 | 3313 | 1333 | |
Meta Knight | 1211 | 1311 | 2211 | 2111 | 2311 |
1212 | 1312 | 1121 | 1112 | 3111 | |
Mewtwo | N/A | ||||
Mii Brawler | 2122[1] | 1122[1] | 2132[1] | 1132[1] | 2222 |
1222 | 2232 | 1232 | |||
Mii Gunner | 3122 | 3121 | 3123 | 3112 | 3111 |
3113 | 3322 | 3321 | 3323 | 3312 | |
3311 | 3313 | 1122 | 1121 | 1123 | |
3132 | 3131 | 3133 | 1312 | ||
Mii Swordfighter | 2131 | 2111 | 2132 | 2112 | 2133 |
2113 | 2231 | 2211 | 2232 | 2212 | |
2233 | 2213 | 1332 | 1312 | 1132 | |
1112 | 1232 | 1212 | |||
Mr. Game & Watch | 3331 | 3321 | 3311 | 1331 | 1321 |
1311 | 3323 | 3131 | 2331 | 2311 | |
Ness | 1112 | 1121 | 1122 | 1311 | 1312 |
1321 | 1322 | 1212 | 2111 | 1113 | |
Olimar | 1112 | 1311 | 1312 | 1212 | 2112 |
2212 | 2211 | 2312 | 2131 | 3312 | |
Pac-Man | 1132 | 1131 | 1122 | 1121 | 2132 |
2131 | 2122 | 3131 | 3132 | 3121 | |
Palutena | 2322 | 2312 | 1322 | 1312 | 2122 |
1122 | 2332 | 1332 | 2313 | 2323 | |
Peach | 2111 | 2211 | 2311 | 2112 | 2212 |
2312 | 1211 | 1311 | 2331 | 2332 | |
Pikachu | 1311 | 2311 | 2312 | 1312 | 1313 |
1331 | 2313 | 2331 | 3311 | 1321 | |
Pit | 3111 | 3112 | 1113 | 2113 | 3113 |
2111 | 2112 | 1112 | 3311 | 3121 | |
R.O.B. | 1231 | 1233 | 1331 | 1333 | 1332 |
2233 | 1131 | 1133 | 1221 | 1223 | |
Robin | 2111 | 3111 | 2311 | 3311 | 1311 |
2132 | 3132 | 1132 | 3113 | 3131 | |
Rosalina & Luma | 2311 | 2313 | 2321 | 2323 | 2111 |
2121 | 2211 | 2221 | 1311 | 2331 | |
Roy | N/A | ||||
Ryu | N/A | ||||
Samus | 1211 | 1221 | 1231 | 1212 | 1222 |
1232 | 2211 | 2231 | 3211 | 1213 | |
Sheik | 2211 | 2111 | 1211 | 2311 | 1311 |
1213 | 3213 | 2212 | 2312 | 2231 | |
Shulk | 1113 | 2113 | 3113 | 1123 | 3123 |
3213 | 1122 | 3122 | 1213 | 2123 | |
Sonic | 1213 | 1211 | 1313 | 1311 | 1113 |
1321 | 2213 | 3213 | 1223 | 1331 | |
Toon Link | 2111 | 2121 | 2131 | 2113 | 2133 |
2112 | 2211 | 2213 | 3131 | 1113 | |
Villager | 1122 | 1322 | 2322 | 1121 | 1321 |
1312 | 3322 | 1332 | 2122 | 2121 | |
Wario | 1211 | 1212 | 1213 | 1112 | 1113 |
1313 | 2211 | 2111 | 1221 | 1122 | |
Wii Fit Trainer | 2321 | 1321 | 3321 | 3221 | 2221 |
3323 | 1323 | 1121 | 2322 | 2311 | |
Yoshi | 3111 | 2111 | 1311 | 1211 | 3211 |
3311 | 2211 | 2311 | 2113 | 3112 | |
Zelda | 1213 | 1313 | 1212 | 1312 | 1223 |
1323 | 3212 | 3312 | 2213 | 2312 | |
Zero Suit Samus | 1311 | 1312 | 1112 | 2311 | 2111 |
2312 | 2112 | 1211 | 1332 | 1132 | |
Notes: |