Zaradi's Prized Debate Tournament Quarterfinal - TN05 vs. Valkrin

I will provide some reasons why I believe SSBM is better than SSB4 for the 3DS. Overall it boils down to these points:1. Controller2. Graphical Power3. Competitive Scene4. Critic Reviews5. Gameplay6. Overall LifespanI. Controls/ControllerI see Pro's point regarding the controls of the game, especially the quote from Daddy Sakurai himself. However, I believe that opponent quoting Sakurai saying the game is "too hard" is merely used as a scapegoat, rather than an actual reason to oppose the controller/controls of the game. The controller puts Melee in a huge lead over SSB4. If a game is harder than another, it won't ease you into its gameplay. It'll give you the challenge and tell you to overcome it. Many players then want to train harder to become better and better at the game. Once they do, they'll get a greater reward than mastering the SSB4 game, as the game is appently considered easier. This is why many pros in Melee refused to play Brawl, as they simplified the game for a more "casual" audience, or those who don't want to delve deep into the game. While I don't deny SSB4 is a complex game as well, especially with characters such as Shulk and Robin, SSBM, I feel, is more complex, as it implements more strategy (most notably in wavedashing and l-cancelling) and faster gameplay, punishing others more for their mistakes. While SSB4 is indeed a faster game than Brawl, it's still seemingly sluggish in comparison to Melee, and somewhat slower in comparison to Project M, which I shall cover later. As well, take the GameCube controller in comparison to the 3DS. The 3DS is relatively the same size of the GameCube controller, as shown below (these are mine, so no citation is needed): And here's the reverse side: As you can see, the overall controller style of the GameCube is superior to that of the 3DS, providing a larger space for the buttons (and having them stand out), the additional C-stick and z buttons (which the 3DS does not provide), as well as a grip to help players keep better control of their hands. While the 3DS does have a grip similar to the GameCube's available for it [1], a majority of the players do not buy it. Even so, it must be accounted for that no matter how good a game truly is, if the controls are set in a specific way, rendering you unable to play the game to the best of your ability, then why play on the worse controls? As well, there have been various reports of the circle pad breaking due to the rapid movements that SSB4 requires. [2] If the controller has the potential to break, and isn't optimized to the player, it doesn't matter how good the game is, as I've said before, if the player isn't able to use it to the best of their ability. II. Graphics/PowerI feel the best way to analyze the graphics of the games are to look at them in their places in history. Graphics in SSBM were greatly ahead of its time. In fact, The GameCube was ahead of the PS2 in terms of raw power, and somewhat behind to the Xbox. The GameCube, made in 2001, had a 162 MHz graphics processor, in comparison to the PS2's 147 MHz [3]. The Xbox had 233 MHz. [3] Overall, the GameCube was still a powerful system, and not the weakling of the bunch. While it has become the weaker of the three systems over time, the GameCube, in its current state, was more powerful than the PS2 and somewhat close to the Xbox in terms of graphical capability. With this in mind, SSB4 for the 3DS is extremely behind in comparison to the other consoles: Wii U, Xbox One, and PS4, most notably. The fact that a system made in 2001 is even comparable to a system made in 2011 raises some serious questions, even seeing as the 3DS has had many more versions of itself, and still displays a lower resolution than the GameCube! Even though the textures may be cartoony compared to the ones we have now, they still were highly ahead of its time, and one critic even said that "the character models are pleasantly full-bodied, and the quality of their textures is amazing". [8] Overall, if Melee is able to put up a fight against a game that was made nearly 13 years after it in terms of graphical resolution, it shows that Melee is far superior, having graphics far ahead of its time. III. Competitive SceneIn this department, SSBM obviously wins. Many tournaments were help for SSBM at the start of its release, and many more are still being held today! In fact, if you take a look at the Smashboards, many are still hosting tournaments for SSBM, which highly renowned players still play, such as Armada, Mew2King, and Mang0. [4] In fact, a channel and streamer called VGBootcamp regularly uploads and streams videos of SSBM, Project M, and SSB4 for the Wii U. [5] [6] However, the 3DS version sees little to no light in the competitive scene. To compensate for this, it has its online feature, which is what is mainly used for the competitive players, as opposed to showing up in person and competing for cash prizes. SSBM is able to be run on both GameCube and the Wii, and you can even play Melee online with others using a Dolphin emulator and a PC, which is far ahead of the 3DS. [7] While it may not contain online natively, nor the ranking feature, the fact that there were many tournaments around the world for it, and still are today, that contain multitudes of players and cash prizes, makes up for it. IV. Critical SuccessAccording to the overall ratings of SSBM and SSB4 for the 3DS, there are some differences amongst ratings. The 3DS version was generally rated lower than Melee. For the following I'll put Critic: (Rating for Melee, rating for SSB4)Aggregate ReviewsGameRankings (90.52, 85.88)MetaCritic (92, 85)Review scoresIGN (9.6/10, 8.8/10)Eurogamer (10/10, 7/10)GameSpot (8.9/10, 8/10)Famitsu (37/40: Melee)Edge (6/10: Melee)Official Nintendo Magazine (95%: Melee)GamesRadar (3.5/5: SSB4)GameTrailes (7.4/10: SSB4)Polygon (9/10: SSB4)(all taken from [8], [9])I'm not trying to cover up the bad reviews, as I even included a 6/10 review from Edge, which heavily criticizes Melee. The point here is that many different gamers and critics alike have different perceptions, but many of the same reviewers for both games heavily favored Melee as opposed to the 3DS version of SSB4. In regards to soundtrack, the amount of songs do not matter, rather, the quality of them does. Many critics and reviewers have praised the soundtrack, stating that it is "one of the best sounding games ever" and that "it all sounds brilliant". When opponent mentions "sounds included" I am assuming he refers to the sounds of the game, such as hit sounds. However, when looked at, there were overall 80 sound tracks for stages, that included alternate tracks that had a chance to randomly play on a stage, or play upon request. [10] The amount of actual sounds in the game far exceeds that. V. GameplayThe gameplay style of Melee is just what the title says: melee. Overall it favors Melee combat, and due to the fast-paced nature of the game simply camping isn't a good choice. Much of the games features rely on fast characters, who have the potential to hit hard, fast, and typically don't have good ranged options. This is why characters such as Fox, Falco, Captain Falcon, and Sheik are picked so much. With the faster-paced nature of Melee, campy characters don't really have an edge. As well, all of these characters require great practice and skill to use properly, especially with essential skills such as wavedashing, l-cancelling, etc. , and landing aerials and specials. A common mechanic for Fox players is the shine spike, which uses his reflect ability multiple times in quick succession, then using it when the opponent is off the stage to spike them out of the area. This requires great skill and precision, and with the naturally slower gameplay of SSB4, this doesn't occur as often. While characters such as Fox and Falco aren't as powerful as their Melee counterparts due to the slower gameplay, they still have lots of show in competitive SSB4 Wii U matches. VI. Overall LifespanMelee has been around in competitive Smash over 13 years. With its constant prized tournaments and active fanbase, even an entire community driven mod to replace Brawl into a more Melee-esque game, Melee has shown to be the superior. While the entire lifespan of SSB4 for the 3DS has yet to really be figured out, as the game has only been out for a few months, many players still have fun and enjoy Melee, enough to even have tournaments which can reach over 30 THOUSAND viewers on Twitch. In fact, this happened just yesterday, with VGBootcamp's tourney. The Wii U and 3DS versions don't receive nearly as much, in fact the 3DS doesn't receive any at all. With this in mind, let's keep in mind Melee has been around for over 13 years, and is still enjoyed and adored by the community today. In Conclusion. .. I thank opponent for his arguments, and I believe I have shown reasons why Melee could be considered the better game, which are all valid points. I await opponent's refutations. Thanks :)Sources:[1] . http://www.amazon.com...[2] . http://www.kotaku.com...;[3] . http://www.popularmechanics.com...[4] . http://smashboards.com...[5] . http://twitch.tv...[6] www. youtube. com/user/VideoGameBootCamp[7] . http://smashboards.com...[8] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[9] . http://en.wikipedia.org...[10] . http://nintendo.wikia.com...