FTFY. While Smash 4 has a thriving scene now, it's all downhill from here after EVO. It's living on borrowed time, & like I said earlier, I can't see any scenario where Smash 4 lasts longer than Melee in the FGC.
Nothing a patch or two can't fix. In fact, I can see Splatoon becoming competitive after the August update adds custom lobbies.
VGC may not be a format I particularly like, but it's light-years more competitive than NWC or the Smash Invitational
Is Melee the Third Strike of Smash?
No, because there's a 12% chance that Smash 4 will outlive it. Smash 4 is the brief fling, Melee is the committed relationship.
Same here. But joining the competitive scene these last few months have opened my eyes to the fact. It's unfortunate because like you, I'm actually not half bad at Smash 4.I hope this isn't the case. I'm actually good at Smash 4.
I tried to get into the Melee scene and got my ass handed to me repeatedly.
Oh, so it's even worse that the Third Strike scenario? Eh, at least the Melee community is still going really strong.
No it won't. In fact, Smash 4's future after EVO 2015 is uncertain. It'll probably come back for EVO 2016 due to the DLC characters alone (which will likely end by that time), but other than that it won't last long. While it's a great game in its own right, the Melee side of the Smash scene (which makes up the majority) have already shunned it. This basically marked Smash 4 for death. It won't outlive Melee. Would I want it to, hell yeah (on account of me actually being good at Smash 4 while I'm just decent at Melee), but I can't see it happening.
I touched on that in my recent post. There is a possibility that on the off chance that Sakurai passes the torch, that the new director could make the game worse overall.
Smash 4 scene is comprised of Brawl veterans, and new players coming into the scene. The Melee scene is their own thing, and doesn't have a bearing on how Smash 4 is going to last or not.
I wish I could believe this, I genuinely do. But from what I've seen at the tournaments I've attended, this doesn't seem to be the case. There are still tournaments that ignore Smash 4 entirely & only offer Melee & PM (especially in Houston). College Station & Austin are better with hosting Smash 4 tournaments as far as Texas goes.
This could be the case as I've yet to go out-of-state for any tournament. But then there's the points brought up by Mensrea.
My next subject was actually going to be how Nintendo could foster the Splatoon competitive scene into something spectacular. The August update is the first big step towards that.
It shouldn't be that hard, just need to do a little googling. If you're anywhere near a city there will probably be a smash Facebook group. If you're outside the US it might be harder to find other players but it's still possible.
God help my wallet if this happened. That being said, this would be a genius idea. You could store the stats of your character on the Amiibo & carry it with you to any console.
Believe me, I'd love to be wrong, & I'd happily eat crow if that was the case. But in every scenario I try to imagine for the future of competitive Smash, Melee always comes out on top. EVO won't be big enough for both Smash games. One of them will have to give, & the Melee scene isn't gonna go down without a fight.
While I do understand some of the complaints of the Melee fans (mainly with Smash 4 being too defense-oriented & campy), them basically avoiding Smash 4 like the plague is a little on the picky side.
This is kind of my thinking when it comes to VR. It's a cool concept, but I feel like it needs more time in the oven before it's ready for mass consumption. That & the fact that the price needs to be reasonable (correct me if I'm wrong about VR being expensive).
No one is gonna kill off any game. Melee is staying with their fans and Smash 4 with theirs. Smash 4 right now is HUGE, due to the For Glory/Wifi.
EVO is kind of the golden standard for all fighting games. When they legalized custom moves, a majority of tournaments followed suit (besides CEO & some Houston tournaments). If Smash 4 is removed from the EVO line-up, the Smash 4 scene will begin to fade, & this is my biggest concern. The Melee scene won't give up their EVO slot, Smash 4 is the newest kid on the block that is actually getting support from Nintendo, & many are complaining about there being 2 Smash games (despite the two being completely different). Plus DLC can only keep a game alive for so long (see Injustice). Hell, there are still channels that barely cover Smash 4 at all (GRSmash, a popular YouTube channel that basically compiles Top 10 moments from the Smash scene).
