Smash Ultimate Tips: What to Do When a Character is “Broken”
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Smash Ultimate Tips: What to Do When a Character is “Broken”

How to deal with the hearsay of a broken character and what to do in the event it happens Rango Follow Dec 27, 2021 · 5 min read

At the time of this writing, I stumbled on how DDog, a Steve main, defeated Tweek in bracket not once but twice in the same tournament. This led players on Smash Twitter to create discourse regarding the character’s legality. Suddenly, people alleged Steve was broken, comparable to Smash 4’s Bayonetta, and should be banned from events.

This knee-jerk reaction stemmed from the possibility that Tweek would lose to anyone who isn’t one of the highest-ranked players in Smash Ultimate. Suddenly, the Smash community faces a crisis that Steve will begin dominating brackets and ruining the game’s meta. With no more balance patches coming to the game, they’ve created the panic scenario.

This is not the first time players have created discourse around who’s broken and who’s not. However, rather than find the solution —such as learning the matchup — it’s easier to create fuss and ban a character before their meta even develops.

There are some occasions where a character should be banned from the meta. But even among Smash Bros. titles and traditional fighting games alike, this scenario is quite rare. Unless a single character is seen throughout an entire bracket and players are leaving the scene in droves, the cause for concern usually weighs far less than the controversy surrounding it.

I want to dissect the difference between when you need to learn the matchup versus when there’s a legit concern that a character should be banned.

When Players Create Panic Over a Character

We’ve seen now and from experience, the scare that happens on Smash Twitter whenever a player rises through the ranks using a character. Often blamed on DLC, fighters like Pyra/Mythra, Steve, or Kazuya threaten players. I associate this with cognitive dissonance and fear of the unknown.

For the record, the first person to place with a DLC character at CEO 2021 placed 13th. Smash Ultimate’s emphasis on balance means not making the DLC characters as overbearing as they were in Smash 4. The “$5.99” jokes made by commentators are both obsolete and misleading. Before you decide whether to ban a fighter, consider if they’re even dominating multiple tournaments over the string of a few months.

To determine a character should be banned means they have run uncontested regardless of the players or other characters they face. Until that happens, a process that could take months of compiling results, it pays to learn all you can about that character before you deal with them in bracket.

When Players Showcase Legitimate Results Threatening the Meta

Bayonetta. Any Smash 4 player cringes at the thought of how the Umbra Witch swept through and dominated brackets.

Salem’s win at EVO 2017 began the dark ages for the rest of Smash 4 while players at local and regional tournaments began switching their mains just to engage with in dittos with players also switching to Bayonetta.

However, another character was also making waves through brackets: Cloud. Besides being one of the game’s overall top tiers, Cloud’s dominance through doubles brackets became crystal clear. His use was featured in nearly every team you could find at a tournament, to where they were even greater than Meta-Knight’s results were in Brawl tournaments.

As such, I loved Cloud. He was fun to use, fun to play, and better than Ike in every category in the game’s meta. I started placing Top 3 with Cloud at my state doubles tournaments every month until my competition got sick of dealing with him. However, instead of pressing forward to maintain glory, I sought to help my state’s competitive scene.

Taking Action

I campaigned for Cloud’s ban in doubles in early-mid 2018 and was more than willing to put aside garnering easy results if it meant encouraging character diversity. Players would also feel invited to enter doubles without the threat of the obvious looming over them.

I should note that my decision to get Cloud banned in doubles stemmed from the Smash community’s previous inaction to ban problematic characters. These characters have proven, over months and even years, that they were dominating brackets, yet TOs left them unbanned for various reasons.

Meta-Knight in Brawl and both Bayo and Cloud in Smash 4 continued to run unchecked. From the source linked above, I’ve heard of past examples where top players threatened to boycott a tournament if their character was banned from the tournament. To strong-arm the TO who needed that top player’s “draw” to get eyes on their tournament, they would give in to these demands.

Having been part of the Brawl scene, I left in 2010 when the scene opted not to ban Meta-Knight from the national community. I had no reason to cling to the game and moved on to other fighting games until Smash 4 came out.

Final Thoughts

Thankfully, Mr. Sakurai embraced the goal of competitive balance while creating Smash Ultimate. I do not want players being driven out because they cannot use their favorite character in competition and are forced to deal with the monotony of a singular character, or set of characters, because of poor balancing.

The takeaway here comes in several facets. One, not panicking the moment someone shows off the top-tier tech of one of their characters. Two, determining whether such a character is even top tier, let alone worth being banned, without proper research and evidence to justify such a cause. And three, in the rare event you find a broken character and with sufficient evidence to take action, then should there be a conversation on whether to ban characters at your local events.

Please remember that we should consider such an action months after they become dominant in the meta.

Keep a cool head. Be rational about your decision-making before you jump straight to a conclusion without proper evidence. Theorycrafting is fine, but stating that “x” needs to be banned offhand could lead to being heckled by the community.

Learn the matchup of the character you struggle with, switch characters if you must, but make sure you’re always improving yourself. Worry about banning a character if the evidence proves they’re going a little too hard. Until then, you need only worry about your self-improvement and learning the matchup.