Smash Bros Why do you love/dislike Smash Bros?

[Spirit]

Smash Bros Ultimate is selling incredibly well (wih 5 million copies sold in 3 days at the time of writing), so clearly it must be popular...

But why do you like Smash bros as a series?

Is it because of its crossover nature and the pull of having so many beloved characters in one place?

Do you just like the fighting game genre?

Or, if you don't like Smash, why is that?

Do you dislike the fighting genre?

Are the games too chaotic?

Or do you just find crossovers tacky?

 

[Azure Sage]

The crossover nature is definitely a big pull for me, but it also has something that almost no other fighting game I've ever played has; ways to keep the gameplay from getting stale, namely items and so many different modes. The more chaotic the battle, the better. To me, those competitive 1v1 no-items battlefield/omega-only smash battles are just as boring as any other fighting game. They get old really fast. Items keep things interesting and fun. Not to mention the never boring spirit battles that are exactly the kind of chaotic fights I adore. I have never played a fighting game that didn't get old after about 10 or so hours. I am at nearly 80 hours in SSBU now and it just came out. Smash is the only fighting game I like, and I don't just like it, I love it.

 

[the8thark]

But why do you like Smash bros as a series?

I like Smash Bros as a series because, well a few reasons.

Many fighting games have a few of these things but for me no others have them all.

1. Smash Bros is easy to play but hard to master. This is something most fighting game don’t do. For them you have to learn a bunch of character moves before you can even start to enjoy the game.
With Smash Bros you can just start atcthe lowest difficulty setting and have fun while you learn the game.
Smash Bros is a great fighting game for those who suck at fighting games.

2. Nostalgia. It had a strong pull and that’s one of the charms this game has.

3. “There’s no right way to play Smash Bros” - Sakurai
Mr Sakurai is right and it’s one of the charms of the game. So many different ways to play the game. There’s a mode for everyone.
Unless you are one of the 5 people who liked coin battles. Sakurai clearly hates you

4. Not spending development time on stuff we don’t care about. Ultimate is really the focus here. Sure things like trophies and the cut modes are great. But seriously do we want the game delayed a year so Sakurai’s team can make 70 break the targets stages and make 3D models of 1200 trophies that most people only look at once? Add in the text accompanying each trophy and you get my point.

You could say it’s quantity over quality and you would be sort of correct. With 70 plus characters and 100 plus stages, something has to give. I think everyone would agree more/better stages and characters at the expense of other things we don’t look at much is the right move.

5. Classic mode.
Always has been my favourite part of Smash Bros. Well apart from the abortion that was Smash Bros WiiU. Every other Smash Bris game had a proper Classic mode.

I was thinking which I better? Longer random Classic mode like Melee/Brawl or shorter fixed Classic modes like Ultimate?
I guess my answer to this is both are good. Of cause the longer Classic mode does give a better experience. However would we want to play classic mode 70x if it was all the same random format like Melee? Probably not. At least with Ultimate each one is different and something new so playing classic mode for the 65th time is not boring. Also having classic mode fixed does make it totally does run viable.

6. Fun. Very obvious. Few people play many hours of a game they do not find fun.
Smash Bros is fun for me so it’s a reason I like it.