So for everyone not aware, we’ll be holding an online Super Smash Bros Wii U tournament over the summer in a similar fashion to the one we held over the winter. Unlike last winter, though, where I basically was responsible for making the ruleset myself, I’ll be taking suggestions as to what the default rules should be. If you think you might participate and have an idea, comment, suggestion, or you simply want to let me know that I’m a tryhard again, feel free to do so here.
With that said, there are a few things that are not up for debate. Don’t even bother trying to suggest against these as they will not be changed
Matches will be either 2 or 3 stock. You can suggest one or the other, but we’re not doing less than 2 or more than 3
Matches will either be best of 3 or best of 5. You can suggest one or the other, but we’re not doing less than 3 or more than 5 (though we may do both at varying points)
Super Mario Galaxy is staying banned, @Indigogeek. Accept it and move on. In fact, all stages that permanently have a walk off are banned
With the exception of a possible ban on repeated ledge grabbing (which I’m willing to consider), there will be no bans on various styles of play. If someone’s playstyle is giving you trouble, it’s your job to figure it out and find a way to deal with it
If we do end up with time being used in some capacity (along with stocks, it will never be exclusively time), matches that end with a time out will never be decided with sudden death
There will be no items or stages where you can take damage independently of your opponent dealing it themself/you being close to the boundaries of the KO zone. In other words, nothing like Mute City or Gamer where there are stage hazards that can hurt you
Fighters that have had their stats edited are banned. With that said, I’m open to allowing Mii Fighters and custom move characters, provided that information on those are given out ahead of time
If you’re playing Lucario you’ve basically already got a handicap for being bad
In all seriousness, I’ll consider it, but it’s…really, really hard to form a consistent handicap, particularly considering that matchups are a thing in fighting games.
For instance, imagine a Brawl (using Brawl because matchup/tier list for Smash 4 is still up in the air at this time) tournament. Suppose, for instance, that there was a tournament with a great King Dedede player and a good ZSS player. After a bit of testing, the tournament organizer determined that the first player was a little bit better than the second player, and so the first player started off with a 20% handicap.
However, ZSS-Dedede is an absolutely terrible matchup for Dedede, and so considering the favorable matchup, a good ZSS player and a great Dedede player were actually on even ground and the handicap wasn’t needed in the first place. Because of that, the Dedede got screwed over, because although he was technically rated as “better,” he got stuck with a terrible matchup and the handicap put him in an even bigger hole.
I’m saying all this to point out that there’s a ton of variables to consider in fighting games (matchups, playstyles, skillsets), and so it would be quite difficult to put together an all encompassing “skill list” that could accurately give out a fair handicap on every occasion.
Are we choosing different fighters for each round? Do we have to choose all fighters we use beforehand, or can we counterpick? Are stages random or voted?
Counterpicks for losers are definitely allowed. I would like to get some feedback on everything else, though. Should we allow winners to change characters, and should stage choice just be left up to a random selection inbetween the two choices or should losers get stage choice?
I’d go with loser’s choice for stage, seems like the best way of evening the playing field. Not yet a real idea for winners changing characters, personally.
I think the Mario Kart 8 Community game night was an excellent example of why any online Smash tournament must be staggered (taking place over a number of weeks as opposed to all at once). Getting two people to show up at the same time is possible, getting 20 or so is downright impossible
With that established, a staggered tournament during the school year is incredibly difficult due to the fact that people’s schedules get extremely busy at points. We had a few people drop out of the last one because it dragged on longer than I anticipated and school came around.
Basically the only time we can run a big tournament is over a long stretch of time in which people have few responsibilities. The only two things that fit that description are Christmas and Summer Break
Broadly speaking, the summer. It’ll probably be taking place over the majority of the summer, to give as many people as possible the opportunity to join
I support a time limit. Prevents stalling, and speeds up the matches. 4’s matches take way too long as is, we don’t need the potential for them to go on forever
