Topic: Tripping Will Not Return in Super Smash Bros. Wii U/3DS

[CurtDogg]

Tournament players breathe a sigh of relief.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/34639

Masahiro Sakurai has revealed that Tripping will not be returning to Super Smash Bros. Wii U and 3DS.

Jason Schreier from Kotaku held an interview with Sakurai this morning, and asked if the controversial tripping mechanic introduced in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which would randomly make characters trip in the middle of the fight, would be making a return. Through a translator, Sakurai told Kotaku "To answer quite frankly, it will not return".

Many competitive Smash players felt as if the tripping mechanic introduced in Brawl made the game imbalanced, and didn't allow for a fair fight. Sakurai explained that the gameplay focus of the Wii U and 3DS versions will be "somewhere between the faster, more competitive style of Melee and the slower, more casual design of Brawl."

[the asylum]

And now watch the Melee competinerds cry about SSB4 anyway

[Darkurai the Oracle Pony]

Yup it took literally three minutes for someone to resort to name calling against people who like Melee better.


Everyone in the world tells me I'm wrong for not thinking Double Dash is the best Mario Kart, but the moment I say I like Melee better than Brawl, suddenly it's okay to start calling me derogatory things.

[broodwars]

I don't really care one way or another about tripping. It was just never a big deal when I ran into it in Brawl. I just hope this doesn't signal that they're trying to cater to the Fighting Game crowd this time, because that's a Fool's Errand. Just look at PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale to see how that turns out: the developers designed that game explicitly for the fighting game crowd, and it still wasn't warmly received (though still a fun game). That crowd won't be satisfied until they've drained away everything that makes the Smash Bros. experience enjoyable for the rest of us.

[Darkurai the Oracle Pony]

I'm actually a big fan of competitive/tournament Smash Bros., and I would love for the series to stay as far away from the Fighting Game Community as possible. Not only does the Fighting Game Community absolutely hate Super Smash Bros., but they're a really volatile group of people.

[Adrock]

I disliked tripping because it added nothing to the game. It didn't ruin Brawl, but it was just kind of pointless. I'm glad it has been nixed.

[Ian Sane]

This is probably the only time I can think of where Nintendo introduced something that seemingly nobody likes and then got rid of it in a sequel.  Sakurai should talk with the Zelda team, who seem to think we want Guardians in every game despite the fact that the only time I've heard anyone mention them is to complain about how horrible they are.

I didn't like tripping for the same reason I don't like the massive handicapping in Mario Kart - I don't enjoy winning or losing based on chance.  When I was a child I liked playing Snakes & Ladders.  When I got older I realized that it was a waste of time because I had no actual input into the outcome of the game itself.  To win or lose at Snakes & Ladders means nothing.  It appeals to little kids because they're not mature enough to handle an outcome based on their own merits.  It's a way for everyone to get a chance at winning.

I don't want a videogame that effectively plays itself and if my input has little or no effect on the results of the game, then that is effectively what it is doing.  I've lost interest in Mario Kart because I know that if I'm doing well I'll get screwed by a blue shell and I know if I'm doing poorly I'll get some killer items to let me catch up.  It's not about who plays better but rather who is lucky enough to be close to the leader when the last blue shell hits.  In Brawl if I lost on a trip I felt cheated and if I won because my opponent tripped it felt like a hollow accomplishment.  I'm not six years old so I'm impressed with winning or losing based on luck.

Now I don't think SSB should appeal to tournament players.  I see the gameplay of SSB as adapting to random chaos.  Lots of random items are appearing everywhere but you win or lose based on how YOU adapt to them (after all, ever player is similarly vulnerable).  Tripping was crossing the line because it's like your controls aren't working correctly.  To truly allow that kind of random chaos while still rewarding skill the controls have to be incredibly precise so that the player is in complete control of his character at all times as one slip up can cost you the match.  If you lose you want to say "ah, I should have jumped a second earlier" not "well I WOULD have made it if my character didn't arbitrarily not react to my controls just then".

I like how when some of us were concerned that "our" games would be casualized for the Wii we got flack for it... but here Sakurai is saying outright that Brawl has a more casual design than Melee.  We feared it would happen, it did happen, and they did it to get that big casual dollar and I can see why they would.

[Adrock]

I believe running increased the likelihood of tripping so you reduce your chances by not running as much. That was how you were supposed to adapt. It was still silly. I run in every non-stealth game. Walking? Ain't nobody got time for that.

[Darkurai the Oracle Pony]

Now I don't think SSB should appeal to tournament players.  I see the gameplay of SSB as adapting to random chaos.  Lots of random items are appearing everywhere but you win or lose based on how YOU adapt to them (after all, ever player is similarly vulnerable).  Tripping was crossing the line because it's like your controls aren't working correctly.  To truly allow that kind of random chaos while still rewarding skill the controls have to be incredibly precise so that the player is in complete control of his character at all times as one slip up can cost you the match.  If you lose you want to say "ah, I should have jumped a second earlier" not "well I WOULD have made it if my character didn't arbitrarily not react to my controls just then".

The randomness of items is why tournament players turned off items. And simultaneously, everyone else could leave them on. That's the best part of the game; you can play it however you want. Tripping couldn't be turned off, so no matter what that "everyone can win" element was always there, regardless of how you wanted to play.


Brawl gave us so many different options, but what I would argue is the most important option simply wasn't there. Tripping should have at least been something we could turn off.

[Mop it up]

Well, this is a good sign at least. Smash Brothers is random enough, so something like tripping is entirely unnecessary and stupid.

The only thing that should cause tripping is the Banana Peel item, if they leave that in. It was usually a funny item.

[Caterkiller]

Yabadabadelicious!!!


I believe from IGN, Sakurai described this games approach as somewhere between Melee's faster competitive design and Brawls slower casual design. I can already tell from the videos it's certainly faster than Brawl, and Melee was honestly too much for me to hang with, so I think I am going to love the heck out of this!


Honestly everything is sounding great. No tripping, casual/competitive compromise, beautiful and unique graphics for each game, Namco's men on board,  Mega Man... If the netcode for this is fantastic and we get some real online going this game is going to be more of a runaway hit than any other Smash before it. I don't care what the Wii U's user base will be when it launches, everything is looking and sounding great so far.


Even if my selfish Ridley, Dixie, Mewthree and Little Mac wishes aren't met(they will) this is going to be my dream title!

[Oblivion]

Definitely. I will play the **** out of this game. I recently checked my Brawl totals on my Wii, and apparently I've put about 700 hours into the game.

[Caterkiller]

Definitely. I will play the **** out of this game. I recently checked my Brawl totals on my Wii, and apparently I've put about 700 hours into the game.

Not bad... My first Wii that broke, over 1000 hours. My 2nd Wii, 500 hours. My 3rd Wii, over 400 hours! Then I got completely sick of my new router cause I couldn't get this strange lag to stop even with Huggles help. Hey what happened to that weirdo? Ningirlhuggles?

[Adrock]

I didn't log as much time into Brawl as the original or Melee, but that's mainly due to having moved out of my parents' house, dating someone who wasn't fond of video games, and my brother slowly transitioning from console to PC gaming. Also, I liked Melee more.

[Doctor Video Games]

So they're not designing something to be bad on purpose? Thank Allah

Not only does the Fighting Game Community absolutely hate Super Smash Bros., but they're a really volatile group of people.

This is absolutely not a true thing. In fact, there are players like Chris G (probably the top UMVC3 player right now) that come from a Smash Bros background.

Seriously though, this is about the single best piece of news to come out of E3 this year.

That crowd won't be satisfied until they've drained away everything that makes the Smash Bros. experience enjoyable for the rest of us.

Yes, tourney players want to take a way your fun by having a well-designed and balanced game. What is wrong with you?

[Khushrenada]

Definitely. I will play the **** out of this game. I recently checked my Brawl totals on my Wii, and apparently I've put about 700 hours into the game.

Not bad... My first Wii that broke, over 1000 hours. My 2nd Wii, 500 hours. My 3rd Wii, over 400 hours! Then I got completely sick of my new router cause I couldn't get this strange lag to stop even with Huggles help. Hey what happened to that weirdo? Ningirlhuggles?

After he got a temp ban for just being snarky and trolling and getting upset with people on this site being constantly negative especially after an E3 one or two years ago, he went over to that Pietriots and just contributes there now.

[broodwars]

That crowd won't be satisfied until they've drained away everything that makes the Smash Bros. experience enjoyable for the rest of us.

Yes, tourney players want to take a way your fun by having a well-designed and balanced game.

Which we have already had 3 times now, Meta Knight apparently notwithstanding for the particularly freakish. Smash Bros. was never intended to be like Street Fighter or whatnot. It's a party game with an emphasis on chaos and some amount of luck. Sakurai gives you people the ability to make the game boring without forcing it on the rest of us, but that is not the way the game is meant to be played.

[Mop it up]

I'd argue we've never had a balanced Smash Brothers game.

And I'm perfectly fine with that.

[Doctor Video Games]

Tripping is a design problem, not a balance problem  vOv

[TJ Spyke]

So tournament players whine and whine until a feature that is not bad gets removed. Maybe make it less often, but it added a interesting piece of randomness to matches. I hope Sakurai trolls tournament players by making items MANDATORY (at least Smash Balls).

[pokepal148]

tournament players for melee just get so insecure sometimes. seriously... they got mad because of the pokemon trainer's change mechanic...

and final destination is far from a balanced stage.

[Adrock]

I liked the idea of the Smash Ball/Final Smash. It just needs some tweaking. Some were awesome-o (Snake) while some were terrible (Peach). Wii Fit Trainer's Final Smash looks great.

[EasyCure]

I believe running increased the likelihood of tripping so you reduce your chances by not running as much. That was how you were supposed to adapt. It was still silly. I run in every non-stealth game. Walking? Ain't nobody got time for that.

Maybe that's why I never noticed tripping, I hardly run..

Definitely. I will play the **** out of this game. I recently checked my Brawl totals on my Wii, and apparently I've put about 700 hours into the game.

Not bad... My first Wii that broke, over 1000 hours. My 2nd Wii, 500 hours. My 3rd Wii, over 400 hours! Then I got completely sick of my new router cause I couldn't get this strange lag to stop even with Huggles help. Hey what happened to that weirdo? Ningirlhuggles?

After he got a temp ban for just being snarky and trolling and getting upset with people on this site being constantly negative especially after an E3 one or two years ago, he went over to that Pietriots and just contributes there now.

I really miss prodaisy/ningurl*huggles. And bill and maxi

[Shaymin]

I'm disappointed that someone who loves trolling as much as Sakurai didn't increase the odds of tripping happening.

"Real men use items."

[Doctor Video Games]

So tournament players whine and whine until a feature that is not bad gets removed.

If you love trips so much why don't you marry them?

Seriously, I know you can't bring yourself to say you like them. Nobody can. Why would you be opposed to something objectively good? And who cares how group A or B plays the game?