Gaming
esports
How Smash Bros on Switch can become even bigger than Melee
We look at all the final tweaks Nintendo need to make so this can happen while keeping the community happy: from custom GameCube controller support to tournament options in-game.
The Switch is a smash hit and every indie developer and major publisher wants to put their game on Nintendo's portable platform. Now that we’re nearly a year into its lifespan, everyone's starting to wonder where new entries of their favourite franchises are, including many hopeful Super Smash Bros. fans.
While Nintendo made their usual strides into professional gaming with Splatoon 2 and ARMS, they continue to actively avoid the competitive communities that spring up organically around their games. No one really expects that to change overnight with tournament sponsorships, but Smash fans are hoping Nintendo bring some in-game changes that provide relief to the competitive scene. Here are a few things that they could do that'd make Smash Bros. on Switch a huge success.
1. Custom GameCube controller support
GameCube controller support could still be better
© Marv Watson/Red Bull Content Pool
Even though it doesn’t work all that well, a recent system update gave the Switch GameCube controller support. The Joy-Cons and pro controller aren’t well suited for the fast-paced action of Smash, so GameCube controllers are still the go-to for top players. Taking it one step further and adding controller mappability would add even more depth to competitive play.
“It would help the Melee scene out finally having the ability to turn tap jump off,” said Smash commentator Rodney Conyers. “The Switch is an amazing system, but I’d be lying if I thought the hardware would be able to withstand a game as a intense as Smash as far as the Joy-Cons are concerned.”
Smash has been portable before with the entry on the 3DS, although it never got to level where competitive players could rely on it. That could change with the ability to completely map the GameCube controller to Smash on Switch. “Nintendo took a huge step in the right direction with Smash on the 3DS,” Conyers said. “[But] the circle pad had a recurring problem of becoming either wobbly or falling off completely. Having GameCube controller support ensures a longer controller life to fit players.”
2. An in-game tournament mode
A tournament mode would make everyone’s lives easier
© Carlo Cruz/Red Bull Content Pool
Tournament organisers have put in a lot of extra legwork in order to get events off the ground, challenges like getting all the proper staff prepared and unlocking every character in every copy of the game they have can be quite the barrier. An integrated tournament mode that unlocks every playable character and allows for in-game tournament brackets and settings would be extremely helpful.
“A mode like that will help those who don't have the time or money get everything unlocked,” said tournament organiser Bassem 'Bear' Dahdouh. “It'll help grassroot organisers ensure they have less things to worry about and everything that's needed for a tournament is available at the flick of a mode.”
Pokkén Tournament has something very similar in its LAN Battle Mode, where all playable characters and support Pokémon are unlocked, regardless if they’ve been unlocked in the main game. Something similar featured in Smash would help casual and competitive players setup fun events with other Smashers.
3. An overhauled training mode
Bots are no match for real-world opponents – yet
© Nintendo
The training modes in past Smash games have been surprisingly bare – the sandbag mode and bot play has never been appropriate for practising solo. Many players actually agree that training excessively against bots won'ot prepare you for actual competitive play.
“The current training mode is bad,” said Rosalina player Samuel 'Dabuz' Buzby. “We can't set the AI to do attacks in certain ways, hold shield, or punish our attacks. We can’t test the staleness/freshness of moves or inputs, there is a mod that fixes these but it's unfortunate we need that at all.”
It may be difficult for Nintendo to accommodate some of the complicated asks that competitive players would have, but offering some way to actively train alone would give players who don’t always have the opportunity to train with friends a chance to keep up.
4. An online ranking system
Ranking players within all the Smash games has always been an issue; once you get past the top 100 players it becomes increasingly difficult to accurately judge players' skills against one another. While an online ranking system won’t completely fix that issue, it will lay a solid groundwork.
“It gives people who host events at least some kind of idea of a player's ability,” said Smash commentator Phil 'EE' Visu. “I've seen some really good players under-seeded because they're primarily Wi-Fi players that didn’t always get ranked.”
A ranking system like this will help smaller organisers figure out where there tournament players should get seeded and should help incentivise players to jump online. “Official rankings give you an idea that said players aren't at a casual level,” Visu added. “There need to be limitations like having only permitting certain stages, keeping it to two stocks, and have reasonable time restriction.”
5. New characters, not a completely new game
Cloud was a surprise addition to Smash 4. Who else can we expect?
© Nintendo
Smash creator Masahiro Sakurai has talked extensively about how demanding the process is for creating a new entry in his franchise, he even claimed that Brawl would be the last entry he worked on. And even after all the work that got put into Brawl and Smash 4, many still contend that Melee is the best game in the franchise. Why waste time developing new physics and weight for all the characters when you can take Melee and improve the visuals with an expanded cast of characters similar to how Nintendo brought Mario Kart 8 and Pokkén to Switch?
Adding new characters is still a huge task in the fighting genre, but giving the development team a firmer ground to start on could lead to a great product on Switch, one that both the developers and competitive community can be proud of.
