Current Events > Super Smash Bros Melee in 2016 (video)

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74G8M2kM-Qw

Long-ish montage of what competitive players are up to in this 15+ year old game...
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I think it's incredibly interesting to compare competitive footage of the game now to during its first years.
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Banjo2553 posted...

I think it's incredibly interesting to compare competitive footage of the game now to during its first years.

Agreed. In fact you could honestly find significant gameplay differences between now and like, 2013-2014 era competitive SSBM. There are still little tricks and innovations that are being found (such as shield drops) which have kept the gameplay very dynamic over the years. I've only really been watching high level Melee since 2015 but I've definitely noticed some changes in the gameplay since then

It's also interesting to consider the old infamous "20XX" prediction that the metagame would inevitably converge on Fox-only players at the top. While Fox is definitely still the best/most represented character, there's still a healthy amount of character diversity in high-level gameplay. A top tier (Fox/Falco/Sheik/Marth) player is almost always guaranteed in any top 8, but you'll still often see Peach, Jiggs, Falcon, ICs, Samus, even Luigi. (Pikachu too, although Axe is really the only top Pika main.)
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Great vid.

Melee, the best fighting game in existence.

(Did you guys notice how those were life count clips? Like, people where getting 0%-ed. Flawless victories in 1, two combos max.)

Albel-Nox posted...

(Did you guys notice how those were life count clips? Like, people where getting 0%-ed. Flawless victories in 1, two combos max.)

yeah the punish game has gotten pushed so far... it's terrifying. even when you're trying to DI out of a combo, you can get rekt by someone who knows what they're doing
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Alex19 isn't so great?
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once more
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Alex Nineteen is not so formidable.
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I miss watching PPMD.
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Captain_Qwark posted...

I like Melee but every tournament I watch it always ends up being the same people. Mango, Armada, hungry box, leffen, M2K and maybe 3 others in the top 8.

But those 5 are pretty much always guaranteed. It gets a little stale watching the same matches every tournament / grand finals.

Yeah I can understand that perspective. Depends on if you like a deeper history between a smaller group of players, or a diverse/unexpected top 8 every time. Both have their merits.

It's kinda like tennis though. The past decade has mostly been dominated by Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, etc, with the occasional upset. Can be boring to see those names again and again, but it makes the upsets all the more interesting/hype.

ThePieReborn posted...

I miss watching PPMD.

BibleThump
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Tag so I can watch later
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up
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one the one hand it's cool to see a game taken to its limits, but it also kinda sucks the fun out of it because there's no point in not doing the same guaranteed tricks over and over

it's called "dominant strategy". For instance, if a player can just button-mash his way through a game there's no reason to try anything else.

as JonTron says "If you're given an ultimate method for removing obstacles in a game you're always going to use it"
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smash needs to stop flooding FGC events with a bunch of smelly teen white boys who dont know how to conduct themselves in public

HylianFox posted...

one the one hand it's cool to see a game taken to its limits, but it also kinda sucks the fun out of it because there's no point in not doing the same guaranteed tricks over and over

it's called "dominant strategy". For instance, if a player can just button-mash his way through a game there's no reason to try anything else.

as JonTron says "If you're given an ultimate method for removing obstacles in a game you're always going to use it"

Which dominant strategy/ultimate method in Melee are you referring to?

Being really technically skilled/fast (which is what I assume you meant by "button-mash") does get you to a certain level of success, but it seems like most players who think of Melee as just a button-masher eventually hit a significant plateau at the regional level, because there's always someone who knows how to deal with the aggression and speed. These days I don't really think you could break top 50 relying solely on tech skill...

In fact the two best players in the world right now literally make their careers off of punishing dumb mistakes by button mashers -- Armada with Peach, and HBox with Jigglypuff.
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Even wobbling has threatened to be a "dominant strategy" for a while, and it's still kind of a controversial topic, but no ICs has been able to relocate Wobbles's 2nd place at EVO 2013. At a certain point every dominant strategy in Melee has some counter strategy
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