SSB4 Smash Balls?

Do you think final smashes will make a return in SSB4? Will that be good or bad?

Being the competitive player I am, I'm going to have to say bad. It felt like a unique thing in brawl, but it just got carried over the top. These things are complete game changers, if they were to have a reappearance I would expect some serious nerfing.

On top of that smash balls spawn at random and tends to interrupt the flow of battle when everyone's scrambling after it. In my opinion, there should be a new method to attain a final smash, perhaps a way that builds up over time.

Either way you can always just turn off the smash ball, but I think if done right final smashes could coexist with competitive players.

Without any doubt. Smash Balls were the thing that sparked up the game. The first thing I watched when I heard about Brawl was a video about all the Final Smashes (I wasn't too active on the internent back then).

Also I think the "chasing after the Smash Ball" is actually really fun. Like how, in competitive Mario Kart Wii play, players sometimes slow down, brake altogether or even drive the opposite way to not get the Thunder Cloud passed to you. Nintendo could build on this idea. It would be great if the Smash Ball had more HP, and you could blast it away with a powerful move to prevent opponents from getting it.

I do think they should drastically decrease the spawn rate, though. Even with items, I usually turn off the Smash Balls, chasing after them and the FS-sequences take about 20% of the game. I think that's also what you mean when you said it's "over the top". Perhaps some balancing would also be nice.

Then I wonder if a non-item-based Final Smash would do any good. This would mean that you could get it in competitive, and in order to make THAT work, they, as you said, have to nerf it and that takes away the idea of a super finisher move. And what else would you expect from a move with the name "Final Smash"?

I don't get why competitive players are bothered by the final smash as most of them play with items off because "it doesn't take skill." In my opinion that takes the fun away and it requires more wits to play with items on.

For the Final Smash, just lower the spawn rate like Dux said and increase it's health.

Final Smashes can coexist with competitive players all it takes is for them to get over their elitist egos and accept items/Smash Balls as part of the game.

I don't think that nerfing the final smashes would take away any of the "super finisher move" intentions. I see a fine line between a finishing blow and a one hit KO. For the most part characters such as Ike, Link, and Falcon will inflict instant death.

Not only that, but it's quite clear that some characters are just outright given a better final smash. For example, Luigi and Peach. Both of these characters final smashes are very similar, where it stuns or sleeps the opponent allowing you to potentially land one free attack on each player. While this is definitely useful, it doesn't even compare to those like Snake or Fox who have the potential to kill nearly everyone twice.

Not the biggest fan of them, but they can be fun. I'd just prefer them to be more balanced is all.

I cannot speak for the entirety of competitive players, however I will say that I do not turn of items because "it doesn't take skill". Items can take plenty of skill, there are probably item masters who play very skillfully with items.

But whether or not it requires more "wits" when dealing with items or not, doesn't change anything in the competitive perspective, at least not to me.

I always thought there to be two reasons items do not mix well with competitive play.

1. Playing with items is a gamble.
Items spawn at random. This means there is no pattern whatsoever besides the rate at which you can set how frequently items appear. A huge aspect of competitive play in this game is prediction. If you can predict your opponents next move based on his or hers previous actions you can avoid there attack and punish them for it. This why it helps to be "unpredictable" you don't want your opponent catching onto your patterns. Items are 100% unpredictable and experience will not change that. It would be nice to see final smashes become non-dependent on an item, that way it's not so based upon luck.

2. Balancing
This ones simple. Look at someone like Snake who has got a pretty good variety of projectile attacks, yes? Then take a look at someone like Ike and Marth, both wield swords that give them superior attack range. Both Marth and Ike do not have a projectile at their disposal, this is one of their weaknesses. So theoretically Ike could not fight back Snake's long range projectile attacks on equal grounds, he would have to close the gap. But when Ike picks up a super scope this changes things. It can now be debated that while Ike has this super scope in his possession he is covering his weakness. Snake's projectiles no longer give him as great of an advantage over Ike.

I agree with the majority of the sentiment here- I think Smash Balls should return, albeit in a more moderated capacity. I think that they're pretty fun, and I've always thought competitive players get way too serious over Smashes and items. It's a party game, people. Chillax. Just have fun.

That being said, they just need to become more balanced, roughly the same power for each, and I'd really love it if the developers got a little less lazy and came up with a unique FS for every character. I'm looking at you, Earthbound/Starfox/LoZ characters.

*struggles to think of something that hasn't already been said*

I like the way they handled smash balls as items. To me, items are the fundamental difference between competitive and casual players. If you're playing just for fun, items and final smashes add to the craziness of the match. If you're playing like you've got something to prove, then you can (and should!) be allowed to turn that stuff off.

What I don't like are people who will only play one way no matter what. Like there's something intolerably wrong with the other play style. Ironic to say this about a fighting game, but can't they all just get along?

Any beefs I have with final smashes come down to very specific things, most of which have already been mentioned. So, yeah, I'd love to see them come back, provided they fix the dumb/copied/broken ones.