Support NeoGAF

[BGBW]

but it is safe to say pretending this unprecedentedly successful and enduring scene doesn't exist is a waste of some kind for Nintendo.

I've noticed this throughout the thread, and yet, it's not true. Nintendo is well aware of the scene. Heck, the speech in the OP and it's even says that.

A certain company that acknowledges us but refuses to push us

The complaint isn't that Nintendo pretends they don't exist, they just don't proactively support it.

 

[Rncewind]

i mean on one hand this is incredible dumb formulated

on the other, this smash melee sub culturething is clearly a phenomenon that is rather unique and nintendo would rather benifit from supporting it and earning good will


and pls guys dont be that stubborn or plain stupid as in "why nintendo should support a game which they dont sell".

They could easly make a Melee HD for switch, which would be rather cheap, make a ladderboard for it / a esports like ladder online mode to push their online system and cashing off, its not that hard

 

[mebizzle]

It's cool that Melee has become a big grassroots thing. That alone justifies it's place amongst the FGC even though the community has a tendency to appear obnoxious.

It does have an audience that they could try to leverage but there still isn't a clear advantage to doing so for Nintendo. They can't use it to advertise their new Smash game because the community will refuse to accept it because it's not Melee and they would be better served investing money in ARMS or Splatoon tournaments if they want to advertise those games.

 

[Oddish1]

With Melee, Nintendo has the an audience, of both people who play the game and people who watch it. That is very valuable in itself; a whole aspect of the industry, with hundreds of millions of dollars, revolve around capturing that - here it's been done without lifting a finger. By throwing a Melee a bone, they have an opportunity (or will no longer be wasting an opportunity) to direct that attention towards newer games that will make them money. For tournaments, the obvious potential here is teaming it up with a newer version of Smash Bros and other games with "esports" potential, like Splatoon and ARMS. There's plenty of ways to get both the people at an event and the people watching at home to think about these other games.

Melee thriving (at least into the present and near future) is simply undeniable and what happens with other games is almost entirely irrelevant. What Ed Boon thinks about MK9 doesn't matter, not because that is the correct cosmic order of fighting game things, but because MK9 doesn't do (never did?) Melee numbers. Melee is different, and it doesn't need help growing.

The real question is if something like chipping into a prize pool for something like a multi-game tournament will give the better return for visibility and interest in the other games versus to just making the pool of the new games bigger in an event without Melee. It's difficult to give an definitive answer to that, but it is safe to say pretending this unprecedentedly successful and enduring scene doesn't exist is a waste of some kind for Nintendo.

Or they could just advertise those games the normal way and not have a convoluted "team up Splatoon with Smash Bros so maybe Smash Bros players will play Splatoon". I'm not really sure I'm seeing the money making opportunities in this. Nintendo does not need the competitive Smash scene to sell the next Smash game.

 

[Nanashrew]

Nintendo already had Splatoon and ARMS kiosks at fighting game events.

Jebailey was smiling ear to ear playing ARMS.

As for the people at home, I'm not sure they'd want to watch a shooter at a fighting game tournament. ARMS is still untested in the west. Watching the ARMS preview tournament in Japan was fun for me at least though.

EDIT: Also going by previous threads, I saw so many who don't even *get* ARMS and its behind the back camera while watching it. Seeing as the standard fighting game is the side camera with Street Fighter and everything, including Tekken a 3D fighter. I have trouble seeing some grasp it though it's actually incredibly simple and easy to understand the game and what is happening. The camera is enough for even the hardcore fighting game gaffers to get confused.

 

[randomengine]

esports lifestyle makes me cringe

 

[Karsticles]

i mean on one hand this is incredible dumb formulated

on the other, this smash melee sub culturething is clearly a phenomenon that is rather unique and nintendo would rather benifit from supporting it and earning good will


and pls guys dont be that stubborn or plain stupid as in "why nintendo should support a game which they dont sell".

They could easly make a Melee HD for switch, which would be rather cheap, make a ladderboard for it / a esports like ladder online mode to push their online system and cashing off, its not that hard

Would Melee players accept the port though?

 

[TheGreenArrow]

That's a pretty embarrassing speech. Congrats though.

 

[Stat Flow]

I love Melee so freaking much. I want it on the Switch. Not Melee HD because I don't trust Nintendo to do that right (they'd try to fix/change things). Just Melee VC with two things: Online Play and compatibility with Gamecube controllers and I'll buy it so fast and literally pay for their online just for Melee.

 

[collige]

Would Melee players accept the port though?

Yes? This entire thread is about the second best Melee player asking for a port

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Dude sounds a little entitled, tbh.

Sure support for the competitive gaming scene can be great for said community and its fans, but I'm not really sure what Nintendo gets out of that?

Some of these supposed "Pro" gaming communities can be quite toxic and I'm pretty sure Nintendo would want to distance themselves from anything that can tarnish their very family friendly public image.

The guy quoted in the OP should really understand this.

 

[Sponge]

The Smash community can be so toxic. I wouldn't be surprised if one day Nintendo pulls out of supporting them.

 

[PadWarrior]

I hope Nintendo continues to ignore the fan base. Love smash it's my favorite series but man the community is so toxic.

 

[Rncewind]

Would Melee players accept the port though?

i guess so? I mean i am not an expert on the scene really is their a reason not to?


seems for me to be a good and cheap way for nintendo making money and earning good will with the community but they know best i guess

 

[Suzushiiro]

On one hand, Melee's competitive scene could be helped a lot by an HD remaster with support for online play, since the primary reasons why the game is so stagnant are that it requires old hardware to play and for you to have in-person access to other serious players to play against in order to git gud. If you're new and want to get into Smash, the barrier for entry is significantly lower on the Wii U version, so it makes more sense to jump into that one.

On the other hand, rather than make a melee HD and encourage a large part of the Smash scene to stay on a 15 year-old version of the game it makes way more sense for Nintendo to instead try to get the current Melee scene on board with their newest Smash iteration, ie make Smash 5 for Switch be something that combines what people like about Sm4sh with what people like about Melee. Do that and throw enough money at tournament prize pools and the top Melee players would probably give it a shot, which would probably get the rest of that scene to follow.

 

[OVDRobo]

I can understand why someone swept up in the moment would express a sentiment like this, but there's too many holes in the logic.

Firstly, Melee is an old game that is only available on old platforms designed with no emphasis put on competitive play.

Second, there are later entries in the series that should Nintendo choose to promote and fund events, they would be preferable choices to a large segment of the audience for reasons of both accessibility and design.

Finally, Nintendo is currently releasing a wave of games that could all set themselves up for supported events. Splatoon 2 and Arms are both interesting releases with high competitive and spectator potential.

If you actually want support from Nintendo, the first thing you need to do is stop playing a game that is around 15 years old.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

OFC a pro gamer would want to protect his nestegg.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Imagine Smash port for Switch is not Smash 4, but Melee. That would be fun to witness.

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

I can understand why someone swept up in the moment would express a sentiment like this, but there's too many holes in the logic.

Firstly, Melee is an old game that is only available on old platforms designed with no emphasis put on competitive play.

Second, there are later entries in the series that should Nintendo choose to promote and fund events, they would be preferable choices to a large segment of the audience for reasons of both accessibility and design.

Finally, Nintendo is currently releasing a wave of games that could all set themselves up for supported events. Splatoon 2 and Arms are both interesting releases with high competitive and spectator potential.

If you actually want support from Nintendo, the first thing you need to do is stop playing a game that is around 15 years old.

Street Fighter III is even older and still played obsessively at tournaments.

There's an easy fix, just make an HD version of the game, pop it on Switch, and charge $20 for it. Considering Nintendo has already said they aren't in favor of the advanced techniques found in Melee, just do this and keep them happy.

 

[kqedequalsvolvo]

On the other hand, rather than make a melee HD and encourage a large part of the Smash scene to stay on a 15 year-old version of the game it makes way more sense for Nintendo to instead try to get the current Melee scene on board with their newest Smash iteration, ie make Smash 5 for Switch be something that combines what people like about Sm4sh with what people like about Melee. Do that and throw enough money at tournament prize pools and the top Melee players would probably give it a shot, which would probably get the rest of that scene to follow.

I think that makes a lot of sense. If Nintendo gets a project like that right and online multiplayer is integrated from the beginning, it lowers the barrier to entry to competitive play which in turn increases the potential audience for events. If Nintendo was to contribute to that in some way - prize pools and so on, then that increases visibility (particularly with streaming comps) which means sales. Buying a game on a current gen console and jumping into online games is an easier sell (particularly for younger people) than 'join this scene via grabbing a GameCube off eBay, finding a copy of it and a group of friends who want to commit too'.

Though obviously, barely any of that can be applied to the current game's situation and if I was Nintendo, I'd be pretty apprehensive about the sheer amount of time and money it would take to get a modern Smash 'right' because people would be so incredibly demanding about it (though I suppose no moreso than Zelda etc.).

There's also a big part of me that wonders why there's such a level of entitlement to the guy making the speech. It's a 15 year old game on old hardware. Some people are saying it's essentially port-begging and maybe it is. To me it reads more like a demand for Nintendo to financially support the community around the game. Or rather, I get why it would be nice for that community if Nintendo were a bit more hands-on but I do not get the argument that they somehow *should* be, like Nintendo are somehow mistreating them by not actively supporting a scene that has sprung up organically around a game they made.

Personally, I don't get the clamour, mainly because I think that that sense of autonomy around a gaming scene can be interesting. You can still have fun and compete at the game and organise events without Nintendo being involved. Unless people think they want to go 'pro' or whatever, but I don't see why Nintendo are obliged to support a game of that age because of a competitive sub-culture.

Fundamentally, it's an old game with a decent-sized scene based on local multiplayer and I'm not sure where that scene wants to go beyond where it is now that or why Nintendo are obligated to help take it there. Though from most stuff I've heard coming out of that community, I wouldn't want to get to close to it as an individual, let alone as a massive company with a big family-friendly image.

 

[BGBW]

The Smash community can be so toxic. I wouldn't be surprised if one day Nintendo pulls out of supporting them.

The community doesn't even like itself so they should not be surprised no one else likes them.

 

[Geno Breaker]

I always hear about the community being "toxic", "entitled", and other similar buzzwords but ever since I've lurked here I've felt like it was slightly ironic. Shitting on Melee fans is a lot like shitting on furries at this point.

 

[Riposte]

Or they could just advertise those games the normal way and not have a convoluted "team up Splatoon with Smash Bros so maybe Smash Bros players will play Splatoon". I'm not really sure I'm seeing the money making opportunities in this. Nintendo does not need the competitive Smash scene to sell the next Smash game.

There's nothing convoluted about adding Melee to a Nintendo-ran tournament to bring in existing "esports" interest (this extends beyond "Smash Bros players") or working with the established tournaments to fit in opportunities for newer games. This is stuff that is to some extent have already been done/is being done (without Melee or without Nintendo).

Nintendo doesn't "NEED" to do anything involving competitive games compared to advertising the "normal way", but they are doing it anyway to some extent and naturally they can do it differently, perhaps better.

 

[ahkdigital]

Maybe they should settle it in Smash.

 

[VariantX]

what if they, I don't know, release an HD version of Melee on the Switch?

Probably a VC version, and that'll be way after Smash 4's port and has to be positioned well before Smash 5 probably used as part of Smash 5's marketing. Priced no higher than $20 hopefully.

 

[Stylo]

The reactions to the "it's a lifestyle" comment are embarrassing. When someone invests a lot of time practicing and most of their friendships revolve around the game it very well becomes a lifestyle and there's nothing wrong with that. The amount of judgment being passed is saddening.

 

[Nanashrew]

Probably a VC version, and that'll be way after Smash 4's port and has to be positioned well before Smash 5 probably used as part of Smash 5's marketing. Priced no higher than $20 hopefully.

I stand by that GC VC will be $15 because the Wii already occupies $20 and $15 is the same as PS2 classics on PSN which makes the price perfect for the era.

 

[DoubleYou]

I mean, even if Nintendo would release a Melee HD port, you just know all the bugs and glitches will be patched and therefor no-one in the melee scene would play it.

 

[DrArchon]

Some of the replies here are so weird.

"We want Nintendo to support the competitive scene for their games, like how Capcom and WB do!"

"Wow, this scene is so toxic!"

Seriously? When you look over at what other fighting game publishers are doing for their games, is it too much to ask for Nintendo to chip in a least a little bit more? Fucking Skullgirls gets bigger pot-bonuses than Smash games, if only because it gets ANY pot-bonuses. Nintendo's support for their games boils down to "We won't C&D you for streaming them" and hey, that doesn't really sound like support to me, it's just apathy.

 

[thepenguin55]

I mean, Nintendo barely got behind Smash 4 and Pokken but people are shocked that they aren't supporting a community that's into a over 15 year old game?

 

[Nanashrew]

I mean, Nintendo barely got behind Smash 4 and Pokken but people are shocked that they aren't supporting a community that's into a over 15 year old game?

The Pokemon Company handles Pokken and all things Pokemon.

 

[LordKasual]

Would Melee players accept the port though?

Why wouldn't they? Competitive gamers are not purists.

Melee players didn't avoid Brawl / Smash 4 because it wasn't Melee. They avoided it because it deliberately tried to exclude competitive play by design.

As long as it's decent, people are playing, and the developer support it, then there will be a competitive scene.

 

[kqedequalsvolvo]

Some of the replies here are so weird.

"We want Nintendo to support the competitive scene for their games, like how Capcom and WB do!"

"Wow, this scene is so toxic!"

Seriously? When you look over at what other fighting game publishers are doing for their games, is it too much to ask for Nintendo to chip in a least a little bit more? Fucking Skullgirls gets bigger pot-bonuses than Smash games, if only because it gets ANY pot-bonuses. Nintendo's support for their games boils down to "We won't C&D you for streaming them" and hey, that doesn't really sound like support to me, it's just apathy.

But I think that's more because other fighting game publishers have ongoing concerns - where they nurture a community around a contemporary game and keep that competitive scene active so that it translates into support for future titles. I think it's not a fair comparison for people to bring up stuff like SF 3. Yeah, Capcom supports that competitive community and it's an old game, but would it be doing so in 2017 if SF4 and SF5 did not exist and required a player base to move on? So with Brawl shunned by a lot of Smash players (understandably so, I'm not saying that's not justified) and no new game on the horizon, where's the continuity? From Nintendo's perspective, where are they shuffling the interest in Melee into? More people buying second hand Gamecubes?

I maybe buy the argument that nurturing a competitive scene translates to sales down the line because new players have a more vibrant and bigger community ready to jump into. So if Nintendo have a new Smash in the pipeline with online play and a desire to capitalise on streaming and the competitive scene, supporting the Melee scene now would debatably make sense. But right now, I don't see an argument beyond that people really, really like playing a 15 year old game and feel that a publisher should financially back that up. It would be nice if they did but I have no idea why players would feel entitled to that support.

EDIT:

True. Doesn't really change what I said though. They have Arms and Splatoon 2 coming out soon and I would be surprised if they did a big push for a pro scene for either of those games. Nintendo just isn't interested in pro gaming and I think that's a totally fair stance for them to take. Sure it would be nice for them to get behind the pro scene for their games but there is zero obligation on their part.

Basically that, yeah.

 

[thepenguin55]

The Pokemon Company handles Pokken and all things Pokemon.

True. Doesn't really change what I said though. They have Arms and Splatoon 2 coming out soon and I would be surprised if they did a big push for a pro scene for either of those games. Nintendo just isn't interested in pro gaming and I think that's a totally fair stance for them to take. Sure it would be nice for them to get behind the pro scene for their games but there is zero obligation on their part.

Why wouldn't they? Competitive gamers are not purists.

Melee players didn't avoid Brawl / Smash 4 because it wasn't Melee. They avoided it because it deliberately tried to exclude competitive play by design.

As long as it's decent, people are playing, and the developer support it, then there will be a competitive scene.

Wouldn't an HD port introduce input lag? I mean, I assume that's at least part of the reason Melee is played on CRTs, is it not?

 

[Huge Succeeded]

Would Melee players accept the port though?

Why pretend like they wouldn't? I don't know why we'd expect them not to.

 

[Huge Succeeded]

The Smash community can be so toxic. I wouldn't be surprised if one day Nintendo pulls out of supporting them.

I hope Nintendo continues to ignore the fan base. Love smash it's my favorite series but man the community is so toxic.

Who's actually being toxic here? Can somebody point out all this overt toxicity I'm missing?
Let me get this straight - y'all read a title that said "______ calls out Nintendo" - therefore, TOXIC?
Yeah, someone's being toxic right now. It's you.
The Smash community has grown exponentially in the last few years.
It's a lot more welcoming and less 'toxic' than you guys would have people believe. Now moreso than ever.
I see some of you are still caught up in that vs. Melee mindset and haven't updated your inaccurate appraisals of the entire community in five or ten years.
Who's more toxic? The guy making a call for Nintendo to acknowledge Melee's continued strong playerbase? Or the guys on GAF shitting on an entire community they appear to know very little about, in reaction to a thread title they didn't like?
smh.

The reactions to the "it's a lifestyle" comment are embarrassing. When someone invests a lot of time practicing and most of their friendships revolve around the game it very well becomes a lifestyle and there's nothing wrong with that. The amount of judgment being passed is saddening.

It's cool with other fighting games but we really shouldn't sully pure Nintendo discussion with tainted FGC ideals

Spoiler

/s

There's nothing convoluted about adding Melee to a Nintendo-ran tournament to bring in existing "esports" interest (this extends beyond "Smash Bros players") or working with the established tournaments to fit in opportunities for newer games. This is stuff that is to some extent have already been done/is being done (without Melee or without Nintendo).

Nintendo doesn't "NEED" to do anything involving competitive games compared to advertising the "normal way", but they are doing it anyway to some extent and naturally they can do it differently, perhaps better.

I agree with this summary. Nintendo doesn't need to do shit, but it'd be nice.

 

[Nanashrew]

True. Doesn't really change what I said though. They have Arms and Splatoon 2 coming out soon and I would be surprised if they did a big push for a pro scene for either of those games. Nintendo just isn't interested in pro gaming and I think that's a totally fair stance for them to take. Sure it would be nice for them to get behind the pro scene for their games but there is zero obligation on their part.



Wouldn't an HD port introduce input lag? I mean, I assume that's at least part of the reason Melee is played on CRTs, is it not?

With Splatoon, I've probably explained a number of times already. It's the western side that needs to kick things into gear because Splatoon already has professional tournaments in Japan officially by Nintendo with concerts. And the devs behind the game embrace the community.

 

[Chindogg]

Why wouldn't they? Competitive gamers are not purists.

Melee players didn't avoid Brawl / Smash 4 because it wasn't Melee. They avoided it because it deliberately tried to exclude competitive play by design.

As long as it's decent, people are playing, and the developer support it, then there will be a competitive scene.

I'm legitimately impressed that someone actually thinks this.


Look. There's zero incentive for Nintendo to fund anything for Melee. They're not getting more sales of other games or any more exposure since Melee is still very niche despite being as large as it is. Capcom and WB push out their support to push their current games only, but even the verdict seems to be out on if that's a viable strategy for them.

You can request support all you want, but that doesn't mean you're going to get it. Nor does it mean you're entitled to it. Instead of asking for a piece of the pie, these guys should be finding ways to bake their own pie. For example, I'm not the hugest fan of Gootecks but he's managed to create a pretty solid business for himself with Cross Counter without any support from Capcom. As have a few more enterprising players.

Support should never be expected because in the end it comes down to who's getting paid and if it's not the company they're not going to do anything.

 

[LordKasual]

But I think that's more because other fighting game publishers have ongoing concerns - where they nurture a community around a contemporary game and keep that competitive scene active so that it translates into support for future titles. I think it's not a fair comparison for people to bring up stuff like SF III. Yeah, Capcom supports that competitive community and it's an old game, but would it be doing so in 2017 if SF4 and 5 did not exist and required a player base? So with Brawl shunned by a lot of Smash players and no new game on the horizon, where's the continuity? From Nintendo's perspective, where are they shuffling the interest in Melee into? More people buying second hand Gamecubes?

I maybe buy the argument that nurturing a competitive scene translates to sales down the line because new players have a more vibrant and bigger community ready to jump into. So if Nintendo have a new Smash in the pipeline with online play and a desire to capitalise on streaming and the competitive scene, supporting the Melee scene now would debatably make sense. But right now, I don't see an argument beyond that people really, really like playing a 15 year old game and feel that a publisher should financially back that up. It would be nice if they did but I have no idea why players would feel entitled to that support.

Because it would require essentially nothing from Nintendo to make happen, and everyone can only gain from the situation. The company loves to talk about "playing together" and "about the games", but when they're presented with this wonderful opportunity born in the essence of all of that, they whip out their dicks and piss in their face every chance they get.

let's just break down how insignificant a Melee HD port would be:

- Melee is a 15 year old game.

- Brawl was so close to Melee on a development level that a group of modders reversed nearly every mechanic change simply by tweaking variables. Brawl was literally MODDED into Melee. By fans, not Nintendo employees.

- Smash 4 still uses the same base as Brawl does, so there's no reason to believe a group of modders couldn't do the same thing.


So Nintendo theoretically wouldn't even have to make a new game in order to provide a Smash game that plays like Melee. They could just patch in a "Competitive Moveset" mode into Smash 4, and we'd be able to essentially enjoy an official version of Project M.

Or, since Nintendo loves branding ports as new games, they could just do that, except without the patch, remove the characters and sell it as Melee HD.

Like, there's so many easy ways to please this request that could make them EASY ass money

 

[CrimsonSquall]

Playing smash as a lifestyle is ill advised

 

[Rutger]

I mean, even if Nintendo would release a Melee HD port, you just know all the bugs and glitches will be patched and therefor no-one in the melee scene would play it.

Well, it's a good thing bugs or glitches aren't used at high level play!

 

[Chindogg]

Because it would require essentially nothing from Nintendo to make happen, and everyone can only gain from the situation. The company loves to talk about "playing together" and "about the games", but when they're presented with this wonderful opportunity born in the essence of all of that, they whip out their dicks and piss in their face every chance they get.

let's just break down how insignificant a Melee HD port would be:

- Melee is a 15 year old game.

- Brawl was so close to Melee on a development level that a group of modders reversed nearly every mechanic change simply by tweaking variables. Brawl was literally MODDED into Melee. By fans, not Nintendo employees.

- Smash 4 still uses the same base as Brawl does, so there's no reason to believe a group of modders couldn't do the same thing.


So Nintendo theoretically wouldn't even have to make a new game in order to provide a Smash game that plays like Melee. They could just patch in a "Competitive Moveset" mode into Smash 4, and we'd be able to essentially enjoy an official version of Project M.

Or, since Nintendo loves branding ports as new games, they could just do that, except without the patch, remove the characters and sell it as Melee HD.

Like, there's so many easy ways to please this request that could make them EASY ass money

You literally have no idea what you're talking about. The licensing alone would make this fairly cost prohibitive so they'd have to be actively engaged in releasing a remake.

Competitive moveset? Now I really know that you have no clue what you're talking about.

 

[Marmaladefire]

Please don't make Smash your lifestyle. I've seen that. It doesn't end well.

 

[stef t97]

Wouldn't an HD port introduce input lag? I mean, I assume that's at least part of the reason Melee is played on CRTs, is it not?

No, people play netplay on modern monitors at the equivalent of console latency up to like 40 ping. The issues with the current release of melee on flatscreens are that the game has a 3 frame buffer in the first place and that the SD>HD upscaling introduces significant input lag. The combination of these two makes it unviable to play on hdtv's right now whereas a release would fix both issues.

As for the purist argument, Project M was embraced by Melee fans and was super popular until it was killed off and on top of that the entire community has given each new game a significant chance before going back to Melee.

Also to address the point as to why pros of other esports moved on to newer titles. If we look at Street Fighter and Counter Strike for example, players had lots of reasons to move on despite small things they didn't like. These include things like higher prize pools, more support for TO's and more developer/publisher involvement. The Melee community doesn't have a big enough incentive to move, the games are too drastically different, viewer counts are lower, Nintendo still doesn't offer great support ect. It's not difficult to see why competitive players have stuck by Melee

 

[kqedequalsvolvo]

Because it would require essentially nothing from Nintendo to make happen, and everyone can only gain from the situation. The company loves to talk about "playing together" and "about the games", but when they're presented with this wonderful opportunity born in the essence of all of that, they whip out their dicks and piss in their face every chance they get.

let's just break down how insignificant a Melee HD port would be:

- Melee is a 15 year old game.

- Brawl was so close to Melee on a development level that a group of modders reversed nearly every mechanic change simply by tweaking variables. Brawl was literally MODDED into Melee. By fans, not Nintendo employees.

- Smash 4 still uses the same base as Brawl does, so there's no reason to believe a group of modders couldn't do the same thing.


So Nintendo theoretically wouldn't even have to make a new game in order to provide a Smash game that plays like Melee. They could just patch in a "Competitive Moveset" mode into Smash 4, and we'd be able to essentially enjoy an official version of Project M.

Or, since Nintendo loves branding ports as new games, they could just do that, except without the patch, remove the characters and sell it as Melee HD.

Like, there's so many easy ways to please this request that could make them EASY ass money

This argument is based on the idea that Nintendo putting a port together is incredibly easy and could be done for "essentially nothing" on their part. I don't know a great deal about the dev process but that really just does not sound right at all to me.

I also don't feel like it's fair to say that they can only gain - supporting a competitive gaming community can come with as many pitfalls as it can opportunities. It comes with lots of unknowns for a company that isn't instrumental in competitive gaming events. Maybe they simply don't want to wade into that market significantly. Maybe they already see a passionate community that's sprung up organically, has got people talking about Smash again, is involved in competitive events and thinks "well, let them get on with that"?

Certainly don't think Nintendo are infallible, but if it was as easy and straight forward as you're making out, then they'd probably have done it.

 

[mebizzle]

Like, there's so many easy ways to please this request that could make them EASY ass money

It's easy to sit on the sidelines and say that it is "easy", how many years did they work on Project M?

And again, how would this make them money? They have to devote time, money, and people to this, for what? To cater to a specific couple of hundred pro players at most? These games already sell gangbusters as is, just because there are a lot of people that want to watch Melee on twitch doesn't mean there are that many people ready to buy a port or pay for a version of Smash 4 designed for competition, I'd be willing to bet that a very significant percentage of the people watching it have either purchased it or are the types of people that purely watch games online.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Would Melee players accept the port though?

Probably not. It's not like SF2 players play ST mode on HDR.

 

[mebizzle]

Well, it's a good thing bugs or glitches aren't used at high level play!

If this is the case then why did a pro player quit a tournament because he couldn't find a controller that was defective in the right way to allow him to do a specific movement strategy?

 

[Phatosaurus]

Should video games be a lifestyle?

When it comes to the competitive scene and it makes the players money, yeah. Why not?

 

[Gai Murakumo]

I would avoid playing Smash for a living. The Melee player scene should be happy Nintendo is not actively trying to shut down events instead of just ignoring them.