Saturday, August 1, 2015

It's 2015, and Nintendo still can't do online.

Remember back in the early 2000s when they openly, constantly denied online was the future of gaming? That put them YEARS behind the competition, and they're still playing catch-up to this day.

Seriously, SSB4's tournament mode is a slap to the face. I wouldn't complain as much if "regular tournaments" (as in, single-elimination bracket tournaments) were more accessible, but as it is, good luck joining a tournament, especially one you want to partake in, that starts in a reasonable amount of time. Last night I saw a room for a 1v1 For Glory tournament that started in 40 minutes get filled up instantly. 64 people were willing to beat up poor Sandbag for FORTY MINUTES. Like, what the hell? Who came up with this system? Here's an idea: if a room's full, the tournament starts immediately, and a new room is created for an identical tournament right away, which starts in X minutes (the amount of which depends on how fast the previous room filled up). They could fill up SO MANY 1v1 For Glory rooms, especially when you consider those who are not willing to wait 40 minutes and just pick something else instead. Maybe people wouldn't complain as much if the other tournament format didn't suck badly, and to be fair it doesn't. It's even worse.

As for offline tournaments not existing... my best bet is that Nintendo's thinking a piece of paper makes those obsolete. And it actually kinda does, though many people will miss the convenience. The thing about modern gaming is that offline multiplayer is getting more and more rare, for better or for worse, and I guess Nintendo's getting in on that? Which is kinda weird, because they've been emphasizing how different and awesome couch multiplayer was for years and years and years. And then this happens. Figures that the one time Nintendo starts following trends pertaining to online multiplayer is the one time they probably shouldn't.

On another subject entirely, I can't be the only one who's disappointed in the music selection for the new stages. Out of six songs on Hyrule Castle, no less than FOUR are the Zelda overworld theme (from SSB64, Zelda 1, LttP and Majora's Mask), and another one's a medley that contains it, leaving OoT Hyrule Field as the only other track available! I mean, seriously? No Hyrule Castle theme on Hyrule Castle? Show me someone who wouldn't play Smash to that kind of remix, and I'll show you a liar.

5 comments:

  1. Poor Sandbag! Well...he doesn't care anyways, since he wants people to beat him up, but I think that might be enough for him!

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  2. To be fair, even if the setup for a specific online feature doesn't work well, the online service itself is far improved from what it was last generation. Playing Mario Kart, Smash or Splatoon online is actually something I want to do this generation, because it works well this time around.

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  3. No offline tournaments was a huge letdown for me. And this online system is absolutely horrible! Who has the time to wait for 40 minutes and then play a whole tournament all at once anyway...I can't imagine more than 40 of those people got to ever actually play.

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    1. Also off topic: I have no idea if you follow the CFL, but since you're obviously a Pokemon fan, I'll leave this video here.

      https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VBHzVNO6xG0

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  4. I'm just going to stick to offline Melee tournaments. I don't know why Nintendo can make a smash game that is as good as melee or project m. Personally I think Sakurai is against smash being competitive game.

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