Comments on: Editorial: A Smashing Primer

By: Lusipurr

Lusipurr — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 04:05:28 +0000

Wolfe writes, “It’s always struck me as a party game in the guise of a fighter,”

And that is what it is.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 21:13:53 +0000

@Wolfe: That’s ok. Smash started as something I barely paid much attention to. I didn’t own the first one because I didn’t know what the point was of having my own copy since one of my friends had it.

As it is I have mostly retired the series in my mind, fine enough with the idea that Melee was a one-hit-wonder in terms of competitive play. I’ve been getting some solid time with the 3DS full release and I’m enjoying it despite the controls and connectivity issues. We shall see if that mood persists in the coming days.

By: Wolfe

Wolfe — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:00:13 +0000

I really would like to leave a meaningful comment here, but for the life of me I have never understood the enjoyment people get out of this series. It’s always struck me as a party game in the guise of a fighter, with very floaty controls that I just can’t get a solid grasp of.

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 03:36:28 +0000

Thanks. There are plenty of other competitive games I either don’t play (Street Fighter) or am total garbage at (Starcraft 2) that I enjoy watching tournaments of.

The For Glory mode in the upcoming Smash games is a nice nod to the community and was frankly more than I would have expected. In truth I think there shouldn’t need to be dedicated modes for competitive play, it should be up to the players to change options afforded to them by the developers, as it was in Melee.

By: Gyme

Gyme — Fri, 03 Oct 2014 02:56:33 +0000

The fact that Nintendo included two separate online modes at least shows that they are aware of how popular competitive Smash is, but it doesn’t appear that the “For Glory” gameplay is specially tuned to give competitive players the Melee experience they know and love. Although I am a casual player of Smash, I enjoy watching it be played competitively and learning about the advance techniques helped me appreciate the competitive side even more.

By: Mel

Mel — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:36:21 +0000

Actually, a very brief check on google shows that the term “Smash 4 3DS” is pretty common as shorthand for the game. I didn’t find any such examples of “Smash fN3DS”, though. Sorry Lusi, :p

By: Mel

Mel — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:28:17 +0000

You’re not being unkind, you just don’t see where it’s coming from. It’s the fourth game in the series and the word “for” is in the title where the number 4 would go. That’s not exactly a complicated play on words.

And I don’t think (or claim to say) it’s catching on. I’ve seen some internet dopes style it as “Sm4sh”, but I’m not going to replicate that in my article. More people simply call it “Smash 4”. Maybe Nintendo did it on purpose (I didn’t come up with it), maybe not, maybe I don’t care if they came up with it. I’m using it regardless because it has the added virtue of being concise, clear, and accurate.

By: SiliconNooB

SiliconNooB — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 23:09:40 +0000

Mel, I don’t mean to be unkind, but there isn’t a ‘4’ anywhere in the game’s title. You are just making stuff up, and I don’t see it catching on.

By: Mel

Mel — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 19:04:01 +0000

They’ve done clever things with names beforehand but even if not, and considering I didn’t write it this way to credit Nintendo, “Smash 4 3DS” sounds and looks a lot better than “Smash fN3DS”.

By: Lusipurr

Lusipurr — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 17:11:44 +0000

I’ve found that many sites are actually using my Smash fN3DS terminology. This is fantastic, and is far superior to your ‘Smash 4’–which, as SN astutely points out, gives Nintendo credit for something they almost certainly did not do on purpose. NO REWARDS FOR THE BLOCKHEADS!