Friendship Letters
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on June 7, 2018
Unpopular opinion among Smashers, but they hate this new controller called the Smash Box that looks wanky as fuck yet somehow has huge advantages
More than half of the community is adamantly against this because it's different. Really. Smashers aren't used to controllers that aren't Gamecube pads. Other fighting games are perfectly fine with players using arcade sticks which have undeniable advantages like faster access to buttons and better control stick control. Smash is a fighting game so it should be the same. It's just a different breed of fighter. The Smash community should encourage use of this kind of controller, not deter it
The metagame would get more exciting. Some difficult techniques involving dashing and DI (Directional Influence (In Smash, if you hit a direction while getting hit, you can influence the distance and direction you'll get hit)) becoming more humanly possible to do would introduce new strategies around them. Why would it be different from an arcade stick making things easier in other fighting games? Besides, it only helps 2 types of techniques. They're not auto-win moves nor do they ruin the game. Tell me what harm there is in enhancing fun, effective techniques? Shield dropping, back dashing, and pivoting get talked about in basically good regard a lot. DI greatly helps the depth of this game
1 complaint is a barrier to entry. A mere $200 controller that's optional to use isn't a barrier. Anyone could walk along side it, metaphorically. Just because there's 1 perk about it, that doesn't mean that everything else about the Smash Box is >= to the standard Nintendo Gamecube controller. It looks like a complicated unintuitive mess. You can't even easily flick your thumbnail against the edge of the X button to super reliably short hop. The Smash Box won't make anyone into a guaranteed winner against anyone else who doesn't use 1. The best player using 1 of these kinds of controllers isn't 1 of the best players in the world
Enhanced DI and dash-related techniques shouldn't break gameplay. They're just advantages that can open up more of the game. It'll be more fun for competitors and spectators. Competitive gamers like watching high level players do highly skilled things. It's just fun for them
If this type of 3rd party controller gets liked by the community, their developers (There's also the B0XX, but I don't think that's for sale yet) could sponsor esports tournaments and help grow the scene by making tournaments more financially stable to run. Nintendo doesn't make new Gamecube controllers anymore. Or at least they won't until Smash 5, probably. Hitbox controller parts can easily be replaced when they get worn out. Using them is a more permanent controller type to use for years, even decades
I think I'm running out of incentives to rant. This is just theory crafting to no 1 who's among the target audience to help me. Just doing this to help me publicly organize my ideas and maybe a casual gamer's perspective might make me consider something different that I nor others I'd debate this with would think up. What do you think?
More than half of the community is adamantly against this because it's different. Really. Smashers aren't used to controllers that aren't Gamecube pads. Other fighting games are perfectly fine with players using arcade sticks which have undeniable advantages like faster access to buttons and better control stick control. Smash is a fighting game so it should be the same. It's just a different breed of fighter. The Smash community should encourage use of this kind of controller, not deter it
The metagame would get more exciting. Some difficult techniques involving dashing and DI (Directional Influence (In Smash, if you hit a direction while getting hit, you can influence the distance and direction you'll get hit)) becoming more humanly possible to do would introduce new strategies around them. Why would it be different from an arcade stick making things easier in other fighting games? Besides, it only helps 2 types of techniques. They're not auto-win moves nor do they ruin the game. Tell me what harm there is in enhancing fun, effective techniques? Shield dropping, back dashing, and pivoting get talked about in basically good regard a lot. DI greatly helps the depth of this game
1 complaint is a barrier to entry. A mere $200 controller that's optional to use isn't a barrier. Anyone could walk along side it, metaphorically. Just because there's 1 perk about it, that doesn't mean that everything else about the Smash Box is >= to the standard Nintendo Gamecube controller. It looks like a complicated unintuitive mess. You can't even easily flick your thumbnail against the edge of the X button to super reliably short hop. The Smash Box won't make anyone into a guaranteed winner against anyone else who doesn't use 1. The best player using 1 of these kinds of controllers isn't 1 of the best players in the world
Enhanced DI and dash-related techniques shouldn't break gameplay. They're just advantages that can open up more of the game. It'll be more fun for competitors and spectators. Competitive gamers like watching high level players do highly skilled things. It's just fun for them
If this type of 3rd party controller gets liked by the community, their developers (There's also the B0XX, but I don't think that's for sale yet) could sponsor esports tournaments and help grow the scene by making tournaments more financially stable to run. Nintendo doesn't make new Gamecube controllers anymore. Or at least they won't until Smash 5, probably. Hitbox controller parts can easily be replaced when they get worn out. Using them is a more permanent controller type to use for years, even decades
I think I'm running out of incentives to rant. This is just theory crafting to no 1 who's among the target audience to help me. Just doing this to help me publicly organize my ideas and maybe a casual gamer's perspective might make me consider something different that I nor others I'd debate this with would think up. What do you think? 
